May The Drowned Goddess Bless This World
by Giovanna Giorno
Summary: After defeating the Demon King, Aqua forget to revive her party members, caused the Celestial Bureaucracy to reassign her to the most utterly cursed, demon infested, stagnant backwater world; PLANETOS, as replacement for the Drowned God. Naturally, her party members end up dragged and reincarnated into this world too. Enter : Theon!Kazuma, Arya!Megumin, and Brienne!Darkness
1. PART 1 : THEON 1

_Fore-Note : Hello, I am Giorno Giovanna from Spacebattles. Yes this is crossposted from SB Creative Writing section and thus would naturally slower to update compared to SB thread._

 _The original title on SB is : Bringing Gods' Blessing in This Utterly Cursed World.  
The title is different here, but the content is still the same, bar some minor changes like two shorter SB chapters being cobbled into one for easier management._

 _As per 11 August 2018, I decides to repair the jumbled up grammars and mistyped stuffs due to having new group of beta-readers and those two guys end up suggesting me to repair this fic from the start. I also made minor adjustment to parts... so... maybe re-reading this will worth it..._

 _In essence : Kazuma and Megumin end up stranded in Winterfell, for better or worse, there are a group of adventurers led by gullible Edmure Tully end up doing Aqua's idiotic whim across Westeros, while in the East, exiled Prince Viserys Targaryen is saddled with Masochistic young noble lady while plotting for his eventual return to reclaim the Iron Throne.  
_

 _Minor crossover with various Mythological beings mentioned liberally along the way_

 _So without much further ado..._

 _..._

 **PROLOGUE : KAZUMA**

"My head..." I awoke in a familiar room, oh well, died again, died again. But at least now there are Megumin and Darkness in this familiar room as well, alongside the Goddess Eris, who was seated in front of us. Goddess Eris smiled gently and raised her arms toward us, mentioning us to stand up and took the seats, which for somewhat reasons quickly materialize when we started to stand up.

I looked at my two comrades and smiled, "Well, I hope Aqua is quick enough to revive us this time, point blank suicide by explosion always a messy business."

"Did I take out the Demon King with us?" stuttered Megumin weakly.

"That was ~Ahh... Maaaa... zinnngggg~ Megumin!" said Darkness seductively. "If I knew such ~pain~ and ~sensations~ exist before. Wait, Aqua already revived us, yes?"

"I'm sorry but you are not revived yet, it seems that Aqua-senpai already overjoyed at the defeat of The Demon King so much, she ends up literally barging into Celestial Bureaucracy Office as soon as the full extent of her Goddess Powers returned, and in her hurry, it seems that she forgot to revive the three of you," said Goddess Eris with sad voice and both Megumin and Darkness paled at this revelation. I myself already making 50-50 bet that the useless Aqua would end up somehow forgetting about us if the Demon King ends up defeated this way, that selfish egomaniac Goddess literally had the attention span of a goldfish.

"What?" Megumin's jaw dropped.

"Aqua is really Goddess of that fucknut Axis cult?" Darkness grabbed her somehow existing pendant signaling her devotion to Goddess Eris.

"I told you so."

"But... Kazuma... t... that means..." said Darkness weakly. "Aqua really was a Goddess?"

"That would not be a problem in the first place, anyway, congratulations for defeating the Demon King, to all of you," said Goddess Eris trying to cheer us up, but it didn't lift the sour mood among us at all. "Umm, Kazuma may already know about me, as he has died and revived rather repeatedly, but I assume it is time for me to make my introduction. As you might guess, my name is Eris, and I am in charge of this realm."

Darkness suddenly stood up straight and quickly drop to her knees, kneeling in formal knightly posture "Eris-sama, it is an honor to be in your Holy Presence."

"My my, there's no need for such formalities Darkness."

"You know my name?"

"Of course, I do, I have always been watching over you Darkness, or should I say, lady Lalatina of House Dustiness?" said Goddess Eris and at the sound of her formal name, Darkness' face slightly reddened. "Well, and stop those tears, I didn't mean to..."

"These are my tears of joy! If meeting Eris-sama requires the condition of death, I will gladly die hundreds of times!" said Darkness while her face turned into pure bliss. Both I and Megumin exchanged glances that we both understood Darkness' true motives.

"Please don't do that," said Goddess Eris while bothering to stand up from her seat and gently lift Darkness hand so she stood up again. "Kazuma's circumstances of his repeated revival is... unique... to be precise."

While Darkness and Goddess Eris seems to exchange what a devout believer of Eris would say when she met her Goddess, I looked at Megumin again and already see her eye to a particular part of Eris' divine anatomy.

"Umm, Eris-sama, Aqua... is really a Goddess, is she?" questioned Megumin.

"Correct, and..."

"She speaks truth most of the time right?"

"Yes? So?"

"She said 'Eris pads her chest, is that true?"

The scandalized look on both Goddess Eris' and Darkness' face is hilarious, said Goddess herself stuttered in defense. "That Aqua senpai! That wasn't..."

Before Eris could finish her talk, Megumin already walked there, brazenly pinch and pull that certain part of Goddess Eris' chest, resulting in her taking one of the Goddess' breast pad in her hand.

"Padded I see..." said Megumin mischievously. "Aqua was right all along! Eris pads her chest!"

"It wasn't my fault!" said Goddess Eris while quickly putting her arms to cover her now half-padded breasts.

Darkness unsheathed her sword and raised it "Megumin! You dare to blaspheme the Goddess Eris-sama! How dare you!". Geez, those two idiots just died and now they already make such ruckus in Eris' abode? I could try to lurk back and hope after everything said and done, I would be the one left standing and hopefully not getting any kind of Goddess' wrath poured upon me, but considering my luck when both of those idiots dragged me to their problems.

I sighed and wedged myself between Darkness and Megumin. "Megumin, please, return Eris-sama's breast pad, that was rude," I said to Megumin while stretching my hand to not let Darkness slash Megumin with her sword. "Eris-sama, I hope you would forgive this transgression of my stupid party member."

Eris nodded to Darkness, giving her an understanding look and Darkness sheathe her sword back. "Please hand over my breast pad and I would let this slide without further accident." Megumin pouted but in the end, she politely hands over the breast pad to Eris, who quickly turn around. "Darkness, please cover Kazuma-san's eyes."

"Wait, what..." before I could say that I would not dare to look at a Goddess padding her breast, Darkness already forcefully hugged my head and smother me with her ample bosom, causing me to have difficulty breathing... wait, she still wears her iconic armor in the afterlife, and I could only wince in pain as my face pressed into hard adamantine plate, yes there's her breasts behind the plate, but it was really, really hard and uncomfortable.

"Kazuma... ~look at my breasts~ don't look at the Goddess', that would be blasphemy!" said Darkness while I could only resign myself to enjoy the adamantine hell my face is subjected into for a time.

"Darkness, I appreciate that, but there is no need to do such a thing." I could hear Goddess Eris after a time. "I think you would simply use your hands, not..."

"Anything for you, Eris-sama!" proclaimed Darkness. "Even as I must satiate the ~lust~ of this ~ravishing~ Kazuma" all while she released my face from her grab.

"I would appreciate more if you open your armor first and let my face rest on the softer parts inside, not that armor plate!"

"But you still ~enjoy~ this, well? Goddess Eris-sama, must I..."

"There's no need to do that, Kazuma-san didn't look at my breasts either, so this is fine," said Goddess Eris with a smile before...

"I didn't want to look at such small chests either, I still prefer Darkness' oppai." I said that without thinking, and as I look at the now even more shocked face of Goddess Eris, and how red Darkness' face over my unthinking insult to her Goddess. "Uh, sorry! That was my fault! I speak without thinking! My face is still sore being pressed to Adamantine plates! Ahh! Darkness! Put your sword down! Put your sword down!"

"Humiliating me is fine, but humiliating Goddess Eris-sama is blasphemy!" shouted Darkness while she swings her blade wildly, forcing me to run across the room of afterlife while Darkness' clumsy slashes already broke down Eris' seats and some chairs.

"Please tell me where I can purchase such deceptive breast pads!" begged Megumin. "I wanted my breasts to be bigger! Why Yunyun and Darkness all get those jugs and I left with nothing!"

"Uh... you just died and all you ask is how to make your breasts looks bigger?" asked Goddess Eris with sweatdrops forming on her face. "My my... you're weirder than your teammates aren't you? And Darkness, Kazuma... please stop."

"This is all started with your fault Megumin!" I shouted after Darkness stopped chasing me. "If you don't..."

Thankfully, Eris put her finger on my mouth and smiled. "Ssh, you said you don't mind if they're padded previously, I understand you claimed you don't want to look at my breasts out of politeness. So we all knew that you three are true companions, and so does Aqua."

Oh well, Goddess Eris is really a nice girl, after all, she even said things in my defense, even as I just inadvertently insult her. My respect for her just grew twice bigger in this regard.

"She left us dead!" shouted Megumin.

"With her power returned, Aqua-senpai could literally revive you as she pleased now. My my, as a Goddess, I already knew your dispositions. desires, and such beforehand. Don't look at me like that, with the Demon King defeated there will be rewards..." said Eris but Megumin quickly cut her out.

"I wish for the ultimate ability to brought ULTIMATE EXPLOSION! And also I would like my breasts to be as big as Darkness' jugs! Thank you!" said Megumin.

"As you... already... knew... my... P... Please resurrect the Demon King and have me be his... ~his sex slave~!" said Darkness.

Eris visibly recoiled at Darkness' sudden change in disposition from loyal worshipper to worthless degenerate soon after admitting she already knew her desires. Of course, Megumin's wishes would sound downright normal compared to Darkness' wishes. I want to chime in, but as I knew my foot-in-mouth tendency, I decided to shut up this time.

"I... I am sorry but resurrecting Demon King is... f... forbidden..." said Eris in a rather nice way, causing Darkness to frown.

"Oh, well..."

"ERIS! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" said a newcomer who literally barged into our dimension/room/whatever in a flash, and in front of us, stood Aqua in all her divine glory as Goddess, which is not too much except her Hagoromo is now floating with Divine Aura.

"I... I am sorry Senpai! I am very sorry! What happened?" said Eris while bowing to Aqua like a junior being bullied by her senior.

"Wait, why haven't you revived us! Idiot!" shouted Megumin.

"Oh, why are you three here?" said Aqua as if she did nothing wrong, and I put my palm on my face.

"Aqua, you're supposed to revive us! Not run away to claim your seat as Goddess on Earth at the first moment!" I tried to moderate the situation. Oh well, maybe she would remember and we could soon go back to our previous lives.

"Eh... well... I... I forgot..."

"So this is how you repay us?!" I said as I pinched Aqua's cheeks, causing her to yowled in pain. Goddess or not, I don't freaking care at this point, she is not Eris-sama and deserves this.

"Stop it! Stop it Kazuma!" said Aqua, but soon afterward Darkness whacked her head with the hilt of her sword, causing a big, red, nasty, blinking bump to appear on her head.

"And that was for bullying Goddess Eris!"

"I am her superior you idiot!" shouted Aqua before Megumin joined in and whacked her head with her staff, causing the second bump, all while I continue to pinch her cheeks. "Yamete yamete! It hurts! Please stop!"

"Cough! Cough!" Eris coughed, politely reminding us that we, for all reasons, are still died and now existing in the afterlife. "Please forgive Aqua-senpai, she did not mean harm. We could talk about rewards after you three take some time to decide after Aqua-senpai revives..."

"Your worshipers already cremated my friends' bodies soon after they found their corpses! What the fuck are you thinking Eris?!" shouted Aqua angrily.

"Ano..." Eris scratched her head and waved, a kind of floating monitor appeared, and yes, in that monitor, all of us could see the destruction our last suicide Explosion took the Demon King while our corpses still left there... and night become day, day become night, night become day, day become night, the night become day, and then some crusaders and priests of Eris Faith could be seen entering the ruins that are previously Demon King's castle. They found our bodies, treated them with respect and full honors of fallen heroes, respectfully collected the parts, washed them, and put them in well-made coffins, before holding a lavish cremation ceremony ostensibly to honor our sacrifices. With Princess Iris crying at the forefront in the King's arms, the King himself standing stoically, a single manly tear shed at his chiseled face, Darkness' father and Megumin's parents and sister all mopping in sadness under the cremation pyre. Yunyun could be seen trying to stand stoically but her shaking gives off her real sadness, while the rest of the Adventurers we knew bow their heads in a solemn salute. Even Wiz and Vanir visibly cried in the crowd.

"My my... you forgot to revive them! For Days! Of course, my worshipers would do the last rites!" said Eris in exasperation. Aqua's eyes widened in shock while she awkwardly looks down at her fingers.

"I... I forgot... to consider the different flow of time in the Gods' realm compared to your realm..." stuttered Aqua.

"You're a useless Goddess!"

"Give me back my life!"

"I didn't mind dying myself but why are you doing this to my father!"

"Ano, I am sorry then, with your physical bodies destroyed, continuing your life as yourselves in my world is out of the question, honestly," said Eris with genuine sadness at her face. "I could, however, ensure you to be reborn in the same family. Megumin's parents are still young and they could have another child in the future, I could ask the higher-ups in the celestial bureaucracy to ensure that with subtle influences. While with the death of his sole heir, Darkness' father may remarry and get himself another child out of duty, I could too, ensure..."

"What about me!"

"And Kazuma-san, you could be born into a noble family there, or would you like to be Princess Iris' younger brother? That could be arranged..."

"Halt." said another newcomer in the room, a young man with long hair, thin beard, and mustache, wearing some kind of thorny crown on top of his head.

"Aqua, we're looking for you." said another young man with curly hair neatly put in a small bun on top of his head with a red dot on his forehead, and his earlobe seems to be longer than usual.

Wait, why I seem to recognize both of them...

"Jesus-sama! Buddha-sama!" said both Goddess while quickly prostrating themselves in front of those two.

Holy shit, what the fuck is this celestial bureaucracy thing! I thought Aqua and Eris was some random deities that actually exist, and now both Christian and Buddhist gods appeared?! And looking at how both Aqua and Eris quickly refers to them as of very clearly higher position, I decided to not take the chances offending either of them and prostrating myself as well, particularly in the direction of Buddha as the more familiar figure in my life. Seeing how quickly her Goddess prostrate her divine self in front of another divine being, Darkness soon followed suit, leaving only Megumin standing in confusion.

"Who are you?" questioned Megumin. "Aren't those thorny crown painful?"

"Megumin! These are real Gods! Kneel!" I said to her in an effort to bring her to her senses.

"What do you imply! Am I not real!" said Aqua in irritation.

Much to my surprise, however, Buddha and Jesus just laughed, seemingly ignoring Megumin, and Buddha, in particular, raised his hand toward me.

"Satou Kazuma, we knew your suffering. And we feel bad about your first death back on earth, seeing as we are there when you died. You know, Jesus also bought a thing at the same store as you, as we happened to live in the apartment near the place of your death that time." said Buddha calmly. "But at that time we concealed our identity."

"And as we later knew, you're our teammate in the MMORPG, of course, we felt bad," said Jesus. "It is because of us, you pull consequential three nights all-nighter."

Wait, what? Why Jesus and Buddha living in Tachikawa? Jesus and Buddha was my party member? My jaw dropped at the revealing of such situation.

"Seriously?"

"Yes Kazuma, I am the one whose nickname is Sid_H #+A, the level 87 Monk specializing in bare-fisted fight and ki attacks, while Jesus is Not_Jack_Sparrow, level 90 elven sniper."

"Wait, are they Japan's Gods?" questioned Megumin. "And Aqua?"

"Buddha is, but Jesus is more of Western..."

"Satou Kazuma, would you like to achieve the state of Nirvana, or would you like to be reincarnated back on Earth? Or go to Heaven?" asked Buddha.

"May... may I ask for a time? I would like to learn what awaits me at the end of my choices, and what would happen if I reincarnate back to Earth. It is still..."

"Take your time, my child," said Jesus softly. "And now to the business then," said Jesus while looking at a certain blue-haired, idiot Goddess named Aqua.

"J... Jesus-sama... I think we agree to restore my Godhood after Kazuma's party slain the Demon King, aren't we?" Aqua trying to say in her cutest face, which only earns her an unamused look from both Jesus and Buddha.

"Yes, you are already restored to Godhood," said Buddha.

"Great! Then can I took my former place as Guide-Goddess of Earth again? Pretty Please..."

"No Aqua, you're often drunk at your work, and has a long history of abusing your powers," said Jesus while producing a scroll with a very long list written in there. "The cream on top would be said Demon King is actually your fault, to begin with, as do the various disasters and tragedies that struck Eris' realm."

"Please not banish me again!" Aqua cried, and deep in my heart, I could only pity the idiot Goddess. Now, there are real Gods who judged her actions, so much for being a Goddess meant a consequence-free life. "I don't wanna be a fallen Goddess! Please don't lock me up!"

Actually being a demon would fit Aqua better, considering her personality, but I am actually amazed on how Jesus and Buddha just exchanged knowing looks on their faces.

"Nope, you just got a transfer Aqua, there's a realm in dire need of a divine being to ensure they are not overrun by Demons. You know your father's old realm, right?" said Jesus softly. Wait, Aqua has a father? Wait, so the divinity is just another humanlike society? There's a lot of questions pounding my head right now.

"My father's... Old realm?" Aqua ceased her cry and started smiling like an idiot again. "Oh well? I never visited them for literally thousands of years! How are they now?"

"Well, as you already knew, your father was already demoted into a clerk in Tartarus for his... incompetence... the Council of the Gods decides to give you a second chance to improve... that realm... but beware, there are Four Greater Demon Kings already set their claws in that Realm. The Great Other, The Night's King, R'hllor, and The Seven Faced Usurper. All of them are the ones who brought down your father and his companions, even as his influence lingered and corrupted. Who knows, you would redeem his name in the end." said Jesus while Buddha only nods at the mention.

"They beat down the Gods assigned there, locking the Old Gods up and become false Gods demanding to be worshipped by the populations. There are still some minor deities around, but they're too weak to oppose them. Your father, the Water-God-Who-Drowned, are able to escape the Seven-Faced Usurper's clutch while he and R'hllor battled, but he chooses to escape without regards of his followers there. Your father can't be really blamed, but it was... well... actually his fault in some ways, but it would be for the later time." added Buddha.

"In short, you are appointed as the new Drowned Goddess to replace the former Drowned God," said Jesus while gesturing his hand to make a portal. "You may go, further pieces of information would be given once you arrive there. Be careful, it is a backwater, stagnant, demon infested, and it is a very cruel world."

"But what about my friends?" said Aqua while mentioning to the three mortal souls existing in this very room.

"Backwater, stagnant, demon-infested... wait, would there be much ~pain~ and ~suffering~ in that world?" said Darkness a little too eagerly.

"Sure, if you wish, you could reincarnate on that world, my child. But I think you might want to consider Heaven, Nirvana, or being reincarnated anywhere else but that," said Jesus softly. "You could spend the rest of the eternity in a realm without pain in heaven."

Darkness gasped "A realm without pain!? Heaven sure is Hellish! Hey, if I jumped at that portal, I would be ~reincarnated~ there right?" eagerness is clearly shown in her eyes.

"Uhmmm Jesus, considering her *you know* maybe it would be best if this girl ends up accompanying Aqua, right?" Buddha whispered to Jesus.

"Well, because you all defeated the Demon King in Eris' realm, you three could technically reincarnate with all your memories and skills intact, but beware, in that realm, there is no easy way to improve your skill and you actually need to practice them the hard way," said Jesus.

Just like on Earth then, well.

"Well, thank you Darkness! You really are my best friend!" said Aqua while hugging Darkness, and without much fanfare, both of them simply jumped into the portal, much to Jesus, Buddha, and Eris doing triple facepalms for their rashness.

"Well, two fewer idiots I see," said Jesus in unamused tone. "Now my child, I hope both of you will choose better... You two would choose either Nirvana or Heaven, right?"

"Umm Aqua said heaven is boring at some point, so Buddha, how's Nirvana?" I decided that maybe getting cosmic philosophical awareness would not be a bad thing in the end.

"Good, you would attain perfect peace and happiness there, all while keeping in touch with the cosmic awareness of the multiverse, as you would only need to meditate and focus your mind there. As the one who attained enlightenment myself, I would gladly show you the way..." said Buddha but then I noticed that wait... meditate...? I hate all the Zen Meditation sessions held when I was still in the middle school.

"Wait, are you mean Nirvana is just eternal meditation?"

"Basically yes, there are some benefits and you will be..."

"Then it is boring! Can I reincarnate back to Earth?" I already made up my mind then.

"Oh well, you're a new soul and not yet attracted to enlightenment, after all, I see..." said Buddha with pity in his voice.

"Am I allowed to do my daily Explosion in Heaven?" chirped Megumin while clutching her staff.

"No, and actually there are still rules in Heaven, the rules put in place to keep the peace and tranquility..." said Jesus sternly.

"Then may I reincarnate to this Earth with Kazuma? Re-do our lives together would be better then." Megumin blushed and I was too. Well damn, it is cliche, but at least it would be better for the two of us.

"Well yes, if you wish, you may, that is your rewards after all," said Jesus happily. "In fact, there are some nice places to reincarnate in and start a fresh new life. Kazuma, where would you like to be reincarnated?"

I could start imagining myself and Megumin reborn as childhood friends, going to school together, playing games, having dates, and then I would ask her if she wanted to marry me and she said yes... as soon as she grows into a beautiful woman so I wouldn't be branded as a lolicon. "Ah! Thank you, Lord Jesus!" I said with happy tears on my eyes while prostrating myself in cliche Christian praying position (knowing that Buddha wouldn't mind). "Japan would be best! I would even attend those Christian Churches because of your blessings!"

"There is no need for that my son, as long as you're living a good life and do to others as you want others to do to you..." said Jesus but Megumin cut Jesus' speech.

"Am I allowed to do my daily explosions in Japan!?"

"Actually no, the peace in Kazuma's world meant there are rules against doing such," said Jesus.

"Godsdammit Megumin!" I screamed while grabbing Megumin's hand. "Living on Earth is better! You should try that first!"

"There would be a lot of things where I could practice my explosion upon in Aqua's new realm, right?" asked Megumin.

"Technically yes, there are no such rules there... but..." Jesus stuttered as if want to say something more.

"Then it is settled, we wish to reincarnate there," said Megumin. Wait... wait... *WE*?

"Ano... Megumin..." I tried to bring her back to her senses, but before I could say anything, Megumin already grabbed my hand that grabbed her hand (confusing I know) and jumped into the portal where Darkness and Aqua just jumped sometime before, dragging myself to plunge in as well. Why is my bad luck end up there when better living is at my hands?

"I NEVER WANTED TO DO THIS!" I shouted at the top of my voice, and as I could see, the images of Jesus, Buddha, and Eris goes smaller and smaller and smaller...

"Calm down Kazuma, at least I could ensure that you all would reborn as Nobles! That way you would have a better life than most people there!" said Jesus across the gap, before I could not see them anymore.

"I would make sure you would be near with Goddess Aqua Kazuma, that way you would have friends close by!" the last thing I heard is Buddha's voice, and everything went black.

...

 _(DISCLAIMER: THE BIRTH OF THESE CHARACTERS ARE CHANGED TO FIT THE KONOSUBA GANG'S RELATIVE AGES)_

...

 **EVENFALL, TARTH, 280 AC**

"Welcome, my new daughter!" said Lord Selwyn Tarth while kissing the forehead of his newborn daughter. "Aren't you the pretty one!"

"She's beautiful, my Lord Husband." said his wife.

"Well, I shall name her Brienne, Brienne of House Tarth, a beautiful name for a beautiful girl!"

...

 **PYKE, IRON ISLES, 282 AC**

"My newborn son?" said Balon Greyjoy with disinterest while stopping his conversation with his brothers Euron and Victarion. "Good, get the Drowned man! We would need to baptize my son in the sea! The sooner the better!"

"What is the name you wanted to impart, or should we asked your esteemed father Lord Quellon?" said the midwife.

"I shall name him... Squidwar... wait... I shall name him Theon... Theon of House Greyjoy! That's it, now shoo off, I wanted to make sure our plan of Rebellion to go in the most fantastic fashion! For what is Dead may never Die! But rises again Harder! and Stronger!" said Balon while pumping his fist up in the air.

"As you wish, my Lord."

...

 **WINTERFELL, NORTH, 286 AC**

"So this is my newborn daughter," said Eddard Stark while accepting the small bundle from Old Nan the nanny of Winterfell. "How is my lady wife Catelyn, Old Nan?"

"She is well and recovering fast My Lord. Maester Luwin said she has no problem and would be able to stand again soon after," said Old Nan with a wry smile. "She is a little girl, but then your sister..."

Eddard frowned in sadness, looking that in his arms, he could see Lyanna's face in his newborn daughter, but he sighed, quickly raised his right arm a bit and dispelled the thought with his will.

"I am sorry Milord... but at least, she has such beautiful crimson eyes. I never knew anyone with such trait My Lord."

"It is not your fault, Old Nan." Eddard calmly said while giving his old nanny a reassuring smile. "Wait, crimson eyes?"

Eddard looks toward his crying newborn daughter, and he noticed the two crimson orbs inside of his daughter's eyes, and at least his smile grew.

"She has the eyes of those who were touched by the Gods." Eddard smiled, "A very rare color indeed, it would enhance her beauty greatly."

"Indeed my Lord. But according to old tales..."

"It was just old tales Old Nan, the Crimson Eyes are the mark of beauty, and nothing more, I believe," said Eddard with a smile. "Tell Robb and Sansa, they could see their new sister."

"Immediately my Lord..." said Old Nan. "You already gave her a name would you?"

"Yeah, as I and Catelyn already discussed before, her name is Arya Stark."

...

 **PART 1 : THEON / KAZUMA**

 **Winterfell, 289 AC**

The carriage drove over the thin layer of snow in front of a castle and said the driver of this carriage pulls his rein while barking an order for the horses to stop. I sighed as the bearded man in grey livery who ride in front of carriage said something about the gate, and I could see soldiers wearing Direwolf sigil on their tabards started helping him unpack things from the procession, in which I am included as one of the 'prisoner' of some sort.

Man, I remembered how I first arrive in the previous 'fantasy' world with that useless Goddess Aqua. But at least back then, I arrived ostensibly as a free adventurer in my 16 years old body, while now, I am back at being 6 years old boy (should be 7 in two months tho) and arrived here as some sort of prisoner because my new father is an idiot on par with Aqua. At least my warden / legal guardian, Lord Eddard Stark, who is the bearded man in grey livery, has a rather nice fatherly family man aura, as he opened my shackles once we get in the ship, far from the prying eyes of that Cruel Fat King who attacked my family castle, slain one of my brothers, and forced my father to humiliate himself.

Yes yes, even as a little boy, my memories of previous lives returned rather gradually. I am aware of my past, and up to a point, the ruckus in the afterlife who started all this shit that landed me in this utterly cursed world, as opposed to previous 'standard medieval fantasy world most of the time' or even back then on Earth. I am aware of myself being Satou Kazuma, formerly a Hikikomori while living in Japan, and then hapless adventurer with three idiot party members after my utterly ridiculous death on Earth. But now my name is Theon Greyjoy, the youngest child, and sole surviving son, and thus now the heir of the idiot Lord of Iron Isles, Balon Greyjoy.

"Welcome to Winterfell," said Lord Eddard Stark, still seated on top of his horse while mentioned me to get out from the carriage. "I would not lie to you, but you will live here to ensure your father would be on his best behavior. You already heard King Robert said that if your father rebels again, your life would be forfeit, but I am not a murderer of children, you would be only sent to take the Black if that happens while you are under my protection."

"Yes, Lord Stark." I politely bow to my warden and decided to keep my mouth shut. The very fact that my father is allowed to keep his Lordship of Iron Isles in itself is a genuine miracle, or maybe Aqua did pull the strings to ensure I get the inheritance behind the scene. But considering how stupid Aqua is, my bet would be simply my dumb luck.

"Good, I hope you would be always on your best behavior here," said Lord Stark with a wry smile while he dismounts, hands the reins to a waiting stable boy, and behind him, I could see the small welcoming committee already wait for him, I could see a lady with auburn hair welcoming Lord Stark with kisses on the cheeks, must be his wife then, and behind her, I could see a boy around my age and a girl who should be slightly younger waiting behind their mother's long skirt, both have auburn shades although generally, they look more like their mother, especially with the blue eyes of them, very distinctive when compared with Lord Stark, who has dull grey eyes. No matter though, with all the affections and love there, Lord Eddard Stark must be a nice, good family man.

I could see Lord Stark speaking something with the boy, and said boy walks over to the place where I am standing still in confusion.

"Come." said the boy with a naive smile on his face. "Father asked me if I could get you to your new room while he has an important meeting with the other Northern Lords. He would check on you as soon as he has time."

Oh well, at least I would bet that this family is definitely a nicer family compared to my birth family, considering that Lord Stark actually treat me as his guest instead of a prisoner, with him asking his own son to do the introduction alongside maybe two or three lightly armed guards. I decided to play along and politely nod my head.

"Great, just follow Jory! He's the one who wears that ten wolves head sigil on his tabard." said the boy. "And my name is Robb Stark, hope we will become good friends," said Robb while offering me his hand to shake upon.

Oh well, he looks innocent enough and back home at Pyke, I didn't really have any friends for a six years old, so well, while I still keep tally that my true age should be 23 (17 years when I died and going), I should do something common 6 years old do and I decided to shake his hand as well.

"Theon, my name is Theon Greyjoy."

And before long, I could see Robb's little sister following behind us, her bright auburn hair already long enough to be wrapped around her neck. I tried to look at her, but she averts her eyes with blushes appearing on her cheeks. I rolled my eyes and decided to not pay her any more attention.

"She is Sansa, my first sister, she is five years old." chirped Robb happily and I could only give a polite nod to this information while remembering the faces of my two late brothers, and the sole elder sister I left back at home.

I didn't really know my two elder brothers, not that I liked them. For all my luck, my late eldest brother is someone named Rodrik, already 21 years old Pirate Captain when he died in the very harebrained rebellion that results in me getting exiled to this place called Winterfell, and I never really knew him other than exchanging nods when we're met each other. My second elder brother is 19 years old bully named Maron, I knew him better, that was mostly because he is a mischievous guy who often picks on me or my sister Asha, but for all his bullying, he ultimately loved us and at the end committed to being a warrior through and though, as he died defiantly fighting the cruel Fat King defending our family Castle at the Pyke, I could still remember he raised his axe defiantly against the fat King's Warhammer, but in the end, he is outnumbered by some men in white cloaks, and the Fat King smashed his head open.

Which made me remembers my elder sister, my sweet 13 years old oneechan, Asha. She is a cheerful girl that is a kind of a correct mix of Darkness and Megumin. She is brave as she was the one who defiantly stands in front of me when the Fat King's men ordered to take me in shackles (to no effect though as she is easily pushed aside, she is no Darkness, mind you), but back before the ill-fated rebellion, she was also the fun bubbly girl that in some ways, ironically reminds me with Megumin, only far more gentle and understanding, as she is my oneechan, mind you. And remembering her like that makes me angry more over my idiot father.

I didn't know how long I've been walked deep inside the castle, but then I noticed another boy, also around my age and this boy has dark brown hair and grey eyes like Lord Eddard Stark. In fact, he definitely looks more like Eddard Stark than the previous children. Oh well, maybe he's Robb's twin? Or?

"Let me introduce you to my brother. This is my brother Jon Snow." Robb Stark chirped happily while I could see the dark haired boy only nods shyly at me. Oh well, considering I am the prisoner/hostage/whatever here, I decided to smile nicely and offer him my hand, which said boy at first reluctant, but later still managed to shake my hand. "Jon is my father's bastard."

Wait... bastard? I tried to hide the trademark Kazuma smirk that started to form in my face, not wanted to be seen as impolite and thus earning me the one-way ticket to the dumb big icy thing in the far north called the Wall. But still, so much for my former perception of Lord Eddard Stark as a nice family man. Still, maybe this is just some medieval thing of this world and said boy in front of me should not suffer because his dad fucks his mom while not marrying her, as I come from 21st century Earth and held no such discrimination, most of the time that is.

"He's still your brother though, right?" I asked Robb, and he nods vigorously. Ah well, maybe this is indeed just Medieval thing where a Lord could have some couple of concubines, or back in my home in Iron Isles, Salt Wifes. Man, maybe this world didn't suck that much when you managed to become a manly man after all of this shit. So I looked at Jon, grabbed his shoulder, and smile at him. "Hope we will become good friends!"

Jon seems to be taken aback by my words, but he quickly smiled back and shook my hand again. Oh well, maybe things will go better here, as while I am a Hikikomori in Japan, making friends with 6 years old as someone who is mentally 17 years old should be an easy peasy job, especially when I have my trump cards of simple magic tricks I've learned back in the previous world.

Well, I'm not yet finally remastered all my previous skills, but at least I've used some resemblances of them back then in the Pyke. Steal is very useful for stealing sweetmeats and swiping up booze at night (even my idiot father didn't let me have one), I could still use enemy detection and lurk to play around, I've played with bows and I could proudly say that my snipe skill is still top notch (but sadly I didn't have time to use that to defend my castle back then, with me being hugged all the time by Asha and my mother and they didn't even allow me to touch any weapon). I've toyed with tinder, create water, create earth, wind breath, and freeze to pull pranks on my siblings back then, and they're not yet known that what I've used is outright magic. The only skill I've never used is Drain Touch, but it was because I didn't have any valid targets, mind you.

Oh well, maybe those would end up using as Party Tricks to ensure I have friends here. No thanks to Aqua the idiot Goddess of Party Tricks though, as I never heard her stupid self even once back in Pyke.

...

Alright, everything has been unpacked, and I've already got the room. It was actually bigger than what meager room I've had back at Pyke, honestly. Not that I wanted to complain. I stand in front of Lord Eddard Stark, who smiled looking at how quickly I tidy up my room and put my belongings by myself instead of ordering some servants to do that for me.

"Good boy, I hope you would be friends with Robb and Jon and learned to be a proper Lord here," said Lord Eddard Stark softly. "If you wish, you could ask the servants to provide you hot water and take a bath, after that, go to the dining hall for Lunch."

"Yes, Lord Stark."

But as soon as I finished my nod, I see some rather familiar glowing circles of red and orange appeared midair outside the window, thankfully centered on a mostly empty field somewhat far away, but I already heard screams of terrors coming from inside this castle. MEGUMIN IS HERE! SOMEWHERE!

*BBBOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!*

The castle shocked but there is no damage done as the Explosion is too far away, I would give it 30/100 though, as it was somehow unfocused and seems very crude compared to Megumin's usual Explosion. Hey, I'm not calling myself Explosion connoisseur out of nowhere, mind you.

"The mysterious Explosions happened again!" shouted a guard who barged into my room and immediately addressed Lord Stark there. Lord Stark himself seems to still cup his hands around his ears and winced.

"Theon, you stay here and wait, it is dangerous to go outside," said Lord Eddard Stark while mentioning for the guards to go outside and close the door of my room.

Oh well, it seems that my adventure in this new world... JUST STARTED!


	2. PART 2 : THEON

**PART 2 : THEON / KAZUMA**

 **Winterfell, 289 AC**

I missed the speaker borne broadcast we used to heard in the previous worlds, having a loud overarching voice explaining the situation would be much improvement compared to ruckus we have in Winterfell right now. Although to be really fair, this is relatively extremely controlled situation compared to what we have back when Pyke is under siege. Still, the confusing screams of servants and guards made me smirk a little, come on, this is only one explosion, not a particularly powerful one, and it happened rather far away from here.

I decided to climb a stool (due to my six years old body) to get a better view of what happened outside, and not being hindered by the big keep that took most of the view from my window. As expected, I could see the glowing embers of post explosion crater, but I also see several more old craters that recognizable only because of their distinctive concave shape and cinder of woods and whatever used to be on top of them, numbered five or six, can't exactly count due to thin layer of snow and such, but it was only a few.

I decided to get down and try to walk out of the door, but then I found the door was already guarded by two guards standing in front of them. And when I get near them, they said that under no uncertain term, I was forbidden from leaving this room until Lord Stark come back from the investigation. I am very tempted to simply use lurk and try literally slipping under their back, but then I was here as a prisoner / hostage / whatever, so I decided to just back to my bed and try to sleep. Hopefully I could locate Megumin soon enough before anything happens to her.

...

It seems that I've fallen asleep, as when I opened my eyes and look out to the window, the sun is already low on the horizon, signalling that I've slept long enough until sunset, and as I see on the small table beside my bed, there are some bread, cheese, and sliced meat alongsidee a cup of water. And as I tried to get down from the bed, there's blanket that simply wasn't there before, but nobody else is in my room right now.

The door creaked, and a guard entered the room just on time.

"Lord Stark asked me to wake you, Squid ward of House Stark, you should eat and afterwards go to his solar."

I simply yawned and decided to just eat my very late lunch without much fanfare, and said guard already stand back in front of my room. I wanted to make some small talk with him, but I wasn't really sure, even at Pyke I never one who talked much to the servants, as my oneechan Asha often do that for me first. Well damn, I missed her so much.

I heard two footsteps running towards my room, and two boys tried to walk into my room, oh well, Robb and Jon again, apparently, but before I could greet them, one of the guard bar their entrance.

"Your lady mother told us to keep you away from the Squid ward, young lord." said the guard toward Robb.

"Oh please! He's just a boy our age, right Jon?" said Robb to Jon, the later only look at me with some unreadable expression on his face. Well, they're just boys and wanna be friends, but why Lady Stark forbid them? Oh well, maybe it would be best for me to watch for this Lady Stark, she isn't as friendly as her husband, it seems.

"Please leave young lord, or Lady Stark will hear of this in the evening." said the other guard.

The two boys tried to give the guards their best puppy dog eyes (befitting as Wolf is their family symbol, hah! that's for calling me Squidward, I think I'll call them puppies now), but the two guards didn't even budge.

Oh well, maybe causing a ruckus at the first day of my arrival would not be the best idea, so time to dissipate this as I simply look at them, smile, wave while giving my best impression of being a cute boy, and said "No problem Robb, Jon, your father already ordered me to eat and meet with him first. Maybe we could play later."

Things are going better though, Robb and Jon waved back at me with Robb saying "I would ask my father if he permits us to play with you soon."

Those are good boys, mind you, but I can't really blame this Lady Stark because I do knew my status is closer to prisoner here. It still stings a bit though, even as my mind seem to stay as sharp as my 17 years old Kazuma self, I do need to have something to not getting bored out of idleness here. Damn Megumin who dragged me into this world, if only we reincarnated back on earth, I would already playing games with her, not being a prisoner over.

Oh wait, Megumin.

I decided to take closer look to these two boys, and I remembered something about reincarnation, apparently you could be reincarnated as someone opposite gender and such. I was lucky to get my appearance very close to what I've used to have, with dark brown hair (which is somewhat longer than what I used to back on Earth and previous world), green eyes (that could be explained coming from my mother's side), and lean build very close to what I've remembered when I was a child on earth back then. But then, I shuddered thinking that maybe one of them could be in fact the reincarnation of Megumin, as their close to my ages, and the fact they're still walking around could be explained that several hours already passed from the morning explosion. In this backwater Medieval world, being a man would definitely have far more advantages compared to be a woman, so it could be very well... dammit, stop that line of thinking dammit, I am not gay dammit!

Well, maybe Megumin could be that Sansa, she does blush when I take a short look at her back then, but she was too silent compared to Megumin's chuuni self. Maybe she actually reborn as some daughter of servants who served here, as I do catch some glimpses of other boys and girls dressed in servant clothes, but then it would contradict Jesus' promise. But I damn sure hope Megumin would be at least a girl here, so... maybe she would be closer to my age now, around 7, 6, or maybe 5?

Fuck, what am I? A lolicon? Maybe not considering I am physically 6 years old now, but it still does feel wrong at some basic sense. Now if only Buddha's promise being true, of having Aqua near my side, maybe I could sort things up with having a literal Goddess at my side, but where is she? Maybe she is with Darkness somewhere else?

Alright, finished my meal, and what is next? Oh right, meeting Lord Stark at his solar, which is fancy name for room with balcony on top here, for some reasons. So I tidy up the plates and decides to at least wash my face and get a fresh clothes. It was cool here and I didn't sweat too much, it seems (although to be fair, this place is suspiciously warmer than it should be compared to outside temperature), with all the year long and apparently very variable seasons running around here (Winter for years? Summer for years?), I think any gods in charge of this planet must fucked up their orbit really good, or maybe outright magic and said God or Goddess in charge of seasonal changes is a lazy bum like Aqua.

As soon as I finished wearing fresh suit of clothes, I walked outside and one of the guard wordlessly led me around the corridors toward what is presumably Lord Stark's solar. As we walked into section with windows at the side, I see a very big, burnt out hole on the outer castle wall, in different direction from what I've used to enter previously. Yes, I could see that there are wooden construction platforms and workers around fixing that hole, with surprisingly a lot of guards standing around as well, but this too, is not the proper result of full-power explosion. Considering the damages, it may range around 20/100 to 30/100, far from Megumin's average daily explosion.

Oh well, we go into windowless corridor again, walking some ways up a stair, before stopping in a room guarded with four guards in front of the door. The guards said something between them before one of them opened the door and mentioned me to enter the room.

...

Looking inside the room, I could see Lord Eddard Stark standing near a table with an older man wearing heavy armor, as well as another thin haired, half bald old man, who from the multicoloured chain he wears around his neck signify his position as a Maester, some sort of bird messenger, doctor, and smart-ass order of men rolled into one. The three of them notice me enter and Lord Stark in particular mentioned me to sit down in a chair while the other two men only look sparing glance at me before resuming their conversation.

"The mysterious explosions outside of Winterfell could very well linked to the first explosion that destroyed the Eastern outer wall my lord. It could be very well caused by buildup of natural gasses inside the steam pipes and the runes nearby. Subsequent explosions on the field outside the wall may be very well linked with the old steam pipes, some which has never been serviced for thousands of years, as the abandoned first keep has not been used for centuries." said the Maester.

"But then, what about the reports of magical circles floating in midair that occurred soon before the explosion? I might be skeptical with magic before, but as soon as I see them with my own eyes this morning, I knew such obvious thing like this could not be explained otherwise, Maester Luwin." said Lord Stark while messaging his temple. "What I feared, is some sort of magic user, perhaps wizard or witch, try to pull some sort of whatever insidious plan he or she might have against us."

"Yes, I recognize the floating circles as effects of magic, but as we all knew the old steam pipes often has runes written upon them, this could be very well side effects of gas and steam leaks, which destroyed the runes and causing the pent up magical energy to be released, my lord. While I would not rule out the chance that there may be a magic user behind the series of explosions, it could be very well caused by faulty pipe leaks or even lack of rune maintenance of some sort." said Maester Luwin. "Considering that, aside of some wounded guards and servants when the first explosion happened, subsequent explosions occurred in eastern field near the Kingsroad, which is mostly empty and quarantined afterwards. As for now, we have no fatalities yet."

"Maester Luwin might be unto something my lord." said the old man in heavy armor. "Reports from the excavations near Kingsroad did found some stones inscribed with ancient runes there. They are previously thought to be simple road-marks, but then, it could be very well explosion from pent up magical energy contained within."

"And what should we do now? Jon Arryn actually asked if you or Rodrik were drunk when sending the second message and claimed magical circles, I am sorry to doubt you Maester Luwin, but for many who never see the mysterious explosions with their own eyes, the tale is too fantastic to be believed, all while as you said, first explosion could be very well caused by faults in the steam pipings." said Lord Stark, who sighed before continuing his rant. "And the Citadel not yet answered your letter, aren't they?"

"Lords Umber, Bolton, Flint, Karstark, and Mormont all said that maybe the Heart Tree of Winterfell demanding blood sacrifice, the very fact that there are no fatalities yet may be the Old Gods persuading us to do the long abandoned human sacrifices..." said the armored old man, and before I could think of self control I reflexively snorted at the sheer absurdity of that. Sure, there are stupid idiot gods like Aqua, but they won't accept human sacrifices? yes? That's why I said my father was an idiot who wanted to appease Aqua by drowning some of his thralls in the sea. Come on, he has better chance communicating with her by offering booze.

Yet looking at how the three adults in the room suddenly focus on my faux pas, I gulped. Not that it can't be helped.

"Your little Squid ward seems to not possess the best of manner, my lord." said the armored old man.

As soon as possible, I quickly bow my head repeatedly while saying "Forgive me! Forgive me! Forgive me!" all the time.

"He's just a six namedays old boy, and he is of Ironborn stock, what else did you expect?" said the Maester with amused face.

Lord Stark himself just look at me with a disappointed gaze. "He seems to be a polite boy this morning. You snorted as if you knew better, so tell me what are you thinking, boy."

My heart froze at Lord Stark's gaze, dammit dammit dammit. I tried to open my mouth, but no words could come out, damn, Lord Stark could be scary too, it seems.

"That wasn't entirely your fault though, these events is so sudden while you are still new here." said Lord Stark, thankfully now back to his fatherly smile. "Maybe the first lesson you need to remember here is to be polite, snorting when someone else speaking is not a good manner."

"I am so sorry Lord Stark." I bow my head low again, which eliciting a snort from the old man in armor, that hypocrite.

"Can't be blamed, this little Squid ward get bored, what did he knew about magic anyway." said the old man in armor while smirking.

"Peace Rodrik, he is just a boy." said Lord Stark while sitting down in his chair. "And to have such condition upon his arrival, it wasn't entirely his fault, he was exhausted and slept a whole day, no wonder he is bored now. If you have something to speak, you may speak your mind boy, I am listening."

I weighed in about outright telling them Megumin is here, somewhere around here, or maybe I should just keep my mouth shut, but maybe getting rough knowledge on magical aspects in this place won't hurt. Afterall, in my home at Pyke, there are no magic user as well, except myself in secret, so...

"Is previously there are no magic user here?" I speak in the most innocent tone I could muster.

"There was, thousands of years ago, some centuries ago, maybe. But right now there are no known obvious user of magic in the known world." said Lord Stark in neutral tone.

"Two years before the Rebellion that put King Robert Baratheon on the Throne, however, the glass candle could be burned again." said the Maester softly. "It was thought that said event is one of the things that triggered Prince Rhaegar's madness."

"Let's not talk about that here, Maester Luwin." said Lord Stark while closing his eyes.

"But the very fact that glass candles could be burned again did signify the return of magic in some sort." said the Maester while looking outside the balcony. "It could also be the cause of those faulty runes."

"There are no other magical activities reported outside of Winterfell, as far as we know." said Lord Stark.

"Things did not line up with expectations, however." said the Maester. "The vision given are reported to be purely nightmare. With most often reported vision being beings of pale white skin, with glowing blue eyes and wielding crystal swords surrounding a young woman with blue hair, blue eyes, and wearing some sort of blue dress with scandalously high skirt, arm holes, and blue socks, said woman are recorded to cry and scream like a madwoman while the saying something in line with 'Darkness fault' and mysterious word 'Yamete'. It was thought to be either cryptic vision from the future, or as many said, just wild imagination of Maesters who never knew a woman's touch."

Oh. Crap.

So this is the reason why Aqua did not show her idiot self immediately at Pyke, while she should be there, she is supposed to be the fucking Drowned Goddess! And the 'Darkness fault' cryptic message is obviously literally Darkness' fault having her degenerate fantasy of surrounded and tortured by demons of this world, end up inflicted upon Aqua, of all things, causing her to say 'yamete yamete yamete yamete please stop'.

Double. Crap.

My body is the one of six years old, I did not know who Megumin really is (I hope she is not reincarnated into a guy, that would be supremely awkward if she is either Robb or Jon), and I did not have any clue where is Darkness in this utterly cursed world.

I looked down at the floor, well, I need to think, and the overarching objective here, is somehow to save Aqua, but then I remembered that in some sort of afterlife or whatever dimension it was, where gods and demons resides, time flew in erratic, often much slower way... so maybe I could bother wait until I am old enough to comfortably adventuring. After all, I bet Aqua should be powerful enough to last for several years, she deserves that anyway for forgetting reviving me, Megumin, and Darkness back then.

And without Aqua, there is no easy way to revive myself, or Megumin, or Darkness for this regard. I shuddered as this would mean we will play the adventure on this world in hardcore mode with one life, at least until we could save Aqua.

First priority, find Megumin, second priority would be then train myself, and maybe, just maybe, we will somehow bump our way with Darkness, considering my luck.

I sighed as I made up my mind, yes, it may end up backfiring in the most spectacular way, and considering my status as prisoner / hostage / whatever Lord Stark wanted me here. I made up my mind, afterall, if things goes wrong, I could simply back to afterlife and ask Buddha to be reincarnated back on earth, or can I?

Okay Kazuma, time to not screw up...

"Lord Stark, I can help you, but you need to promise to keep it secret." I said with some sort of suicidal determination in my head.

"Secret? What are you talking boy?" said Lord Stark with raised eyebrows while the other two men listened with interest.

"Not even my family knew about this, that is why you need to promise me." I tried to speak as confident as possible. Lord Stark seem to look at Maester Luwin, and they exchanged blank, confused faces between them, good.

"Go on boy..."

"I can use Magic, that way I could help you find the cause of the explosions!" I said that loud and clear, but soon after I finished my words, the old man in armor and the Maester started to laugh their ass off, while Lord Stark himself facepalmed.

"This is a serious matter Theon." said Lord Stark softly. "Not you too..."

"What?" wait, did Lord Stark just said 'you too'?

"My three namedays old daughter also claimed she is behind all the explosions, claiming she had seen the abyss and she is the Arch-Wizard, the wielder of the mightiest magic, who named 'appropriately' as 'Explosion', befitting on her creative three namedays old mind. Yes, she is a smart girl, but all those claims are very ridiculous. It worried me that she often reported found sleeping facing the direction of the explosions, which is across the nursery window, and that worried me about her wild imagination." said Lord Stark with a fatherly smile on his face. Oh my God, Megumin is only three years old! Now if I do anything too fast, I would then branded not only a lolicon but also a toddlercon, maybe better wait for some years so... Oh well, at least she is still a girl.

"It seems that your Squid ward has the mind of three namedays old as well, despite being a six or seven namedays old boy." said old man in armor.

"Uh, Lord Stark... what if I prove it to you. You would listen to my words about magic, don't you?" I tried to sound confident, while looking things that could be used to prove my magic while not being perceived as a threat. As Lord Stark just nods at my words. "Sorry to take this to prove my magic Lord Stark" I said while I took a wine cup from on top of Lord Stark's desk. "Promise first that this secret would not go beyond this room."

"Very well Squid, we promise." said Lord Stark while the other two men nod their heads in agreement, apparently expecting some weird childish thing and decided to entertain me.

I lifted the cup that is half filled with wine in my right hand, inhale air for a bit, before saying "FREEEZE!"

...

"You... you could use... Ice Magic?" Lord Stark's disbelief while I hold the frozen glass upside down, complete with additional icicles forming out, is very obvious. And at his side, the old man in armor has his eyes bulged out, while the Maester's jaw dropped. "That was supposed to be..."

Uh, wait... I remembered the motto of House Stark; 'Winter is coming' or something like that. Of course, they would be shocked since I used ice magic, which would then correlated with winter, and winter is their... dammit dammit dammit... should've used 'create water', as it would be more appropriate, or even 'steal' but I didn't want to accidentally steal Lord Stark's boxers, so.

It seems that in the aftermath of my shocking demonstration of magic, the room goes silent that bird chirps could be heard. Still, maybe I could salvage things by magicking something that is the opposite of ice, so... I lifted two fingers in my left hand and...

"TINDER!"

Lord Stark, the old armored man, and the Maester seems to look at the newly produced flame from my left hand with extremely worried look, before I decided to put that off and this should be enough demonstration to convince them.

"His is the song of ice and fire..." said Lord Stark softly with sheer disbelief shown in his face.

"Pardon?" I decided to ask why Lord Stark saying that particular phrase. Yes, I just used Ice magic and Fire magic, that's it, right?

"Y... your father didn't know about this, yet?" said Lord Stark in faint, almost whispering voice.

"Not yet, should I told him? I keep this ability to myself..."

"You never used them before? Or?"

"I used them only for pranks, and never stated those as outright magic in origin, my elder sister just assume I keep an ember somewhere or stole ice from my family's wine chiller."

"..."

"That's why I knew who is the cause of the explosions Lord Stark... no don't look at me like that! That wasn't me! I am not even here yesterday, right?"

"I believe you, you're not the one who caused all the explosions... however... The Song of Ice and Fire..." said Lord Stark while messaging his temple, I wanted to do 'create water' or 'create earth' thing, but then Lord Stark might said something in line with 'The Song of Ice and Fire and Water and Earth' or something, maybe this is something in his faith I presume?

"..."

Finally, after a significant amount of time passed, Lord Stark raised himself from his chair, looking toward the old armored man and the Maester exchanging knowing glances between them.

"We swear before the eyes of the Gods and Men to keep your magic a secret, this is our oath." said Lord Stark with his hand raised and the two men behind them do the same. Wait a moment, why all this things suddenly turned very serious?

"I suggest you keep the magic of yours as secret until you are confident about this, Squid." said the old armored man. "The revelation of this matter is... fucking bizarre... to be honest, pardon my words." and I could hear the Maester mumbled something about 'Prince Rhaegar fucked up big time'.

"This would not really change things between us, Theon of House Greyjoy. I would fulfill my duty as your foster parent to raise you to be a good Lord. Now what would you say next? My three years old daughter's claim is actually the truth?" said Lord Stark with shaken words.

I don't know what I just do, but well, heck. I do need to save Aqua, and getting Megumin on my side would be a good start, but why things suddenly turned all solemn and grim?

"Wait... I didn't do anything wrong? Am I?"


	3. PART 3 : THEON

**PART 3 : THEON / KAZUMA**

 **Winterfell, 289 AC**

I gulped as Lord Stark walked me across corridors towards the nursery. The old armored man, who introduces himself as Rodrik Cassel, is directly behind us, and I have flashback about Sena and the entire ruckus against medieval laws all over again.

Having the Castellan and Master-At-Arms of Winterfell keeping his gaze at me while his hand resting on the pommel of his sword is honestly a very intimidating sight. Lord Stark tried to tell him that as a six namedays old boy, I should not be thought as if I am the most dangerous person in the world, but Rodrik said to his liege that caution is preferable than regret, or something, and it all boils down to the very fact that I am a magic user, and apparently something is very wrong with ice and fire magic in their opinion. Honestly, I just never imagined before that my magic demonstration stunt end up produced such grim atmosphere. Lord Stark giving order to Maester Luwin to reread the copies of prophetic scrolls mentioned in Rhaegar's letters' definitely not helping things.

In hindsight, maybe I should just shut my damn mouth, stop trying to manipulate people who I barely know about, and try to look for Megumin with less suspicious methods. Well, it would be harder because up until that point, I am not even aware that Lord Stark has a second daughter, but chuuni is something that would be very hard to miss. But considering that I already end up knee deep in this shit, maybe wading through it would be the fastest way since finding Megumin is still my highest priority. Then somehow try to get Darkness with us, whoever she is, and go to Gods-know-where to try to save Aqua. I have zero clues about both Darkness and Aqua however, and this is rather frustrating.

Or maybe, just found Megumin, get Lord Stark to understood she 'needs' to do daily explosions, and try to live the most normal life a foster / hostage / pseudo-prisoner lordling could get. As nobody else has magical abilities, bullshitting about how magic users 'needs' to release their pent up magical energy every once in a while would be best bet to have Megumin's daily explosion rituals 'normalized', because I have gut feelings that if Lord or Lady Stark tried to have her stop practicing explosion magic, she would somehow blow up Winterfell and that would be bad.

Yes it would be too much like some guys who insisted that men needs to regularly climax for healthy mind and body, while using that to justify their naughtier hobbies. Be that daily fap or visiting succubus shop or getting a whore if we're using this world's equivalent. But then, considering Megumin and her obsession with explosion magic, and her staffs too, that would be actually rather accurate comparisons.

Better solve the immediate problem with Megumin casting explosions, and then just try to live normally, Aqua be damned. It wasn't like this world is on the verge of being invaded by whatever this Demon King has minions anyway. As far as I've read (and unfortunately, experience due to my father being an idiot), wars are done almost exclusively between humans for apparently thousands of years back, and even Dragons are said to be already extinct, unlike what we had in Belzerg with frequent demon and monster incursions as everyday event in the Kingdom. Maybe letting demons have fun with Aqua for some time is a good payback for her, forgetting to revive us after defeating the Demon King is unforgiveable enough, and if she really needs help, maybe Buddha and Jesus will get here to save and scold her anyway. Considering that the Demon Kings in this world are apparently powerful enough to imprison Gods under their powers, fighting them as humans (let alone six years old) would be suicidal.

Alright, I make up my mind, just focus on containing this situation involving magic, and try to live a relatively good life here. Sure there are no games and such stuffs around, but I am already mentally 17++ years old and could afford to laze around due to modern knowledge already in my mind. As long as my father Balon the Idiot, more brutal version of Axis Cult loony, did not do anything rash, I could spend the rest of my life comfortably as the Lord of Iron Isles. I knew it is supposedly demeaning here, but I personally think being sycophant to Lord Stark and maybe the King will pay handsomely in the end. Hell, I could maybe pull outright renunciation of my father's actions when I am older and simply being an ass-kissing Lord who sweet talking his way out of problems would be ideal.

I am being an Ironborn stock and supposed to worship the stupidly named Drowned God(dess) be damned, maybe as long as I didn't actively go against the Demons, they would not bother poking a mediocre Lord of a backwater province after all.

The creak of the nursery door snaps me back from my imagination, I could see Lord Stark already entered the room and dismissed the old woman inside, obviously the Nanny. After the old woman is far enough, Lord Stark mentioned me and old man Rodrik to enter the room.

As Rodrik closed the door behind us, I could see the sleeping little girl on the cot across the window. I could see Lord Stark's face turned to even more grim expression for a while before returning to his usual composed self, as he gently tapped the sleeping girl.

"Arya, wake up. Arya..." said Lord Stark softly, and I could see that this girl is definitely 100% Crimson Demon in appearance. She has dark brown hair, the same shade as Lord Stark but also the same as Crimson Demons in previous world too. And after she groggily opens her eyes, for saying out loud, she has that fricking glowing Crimson Eyes! If only her hair cut in Megumin style, she would be 100% Megumin. Come on Lord Stark and his household, how much dense you all could get?!

"Father, I need my sleep to regenerate my mana back, I must regain my previous prodigious powers and become the greatest Arch Wizard ever to save this doomed world. Unless you want me to eat, as it is important to have enough nutrients, I must eat to stay strong for the battles ahead." said the little girl, and I rolled my eyes on how easily she could spew all her usual antics. But then I see how Lord Stark's face paled at her words.

"Usually Lord Stark would just smile and indulge his daughter's apparent imagination, before the start of those explosions and even earlier today, but considering you Squid just proven to us that magic exists." whispered Rodrik Cassel, before I noticed that the little girl's eyes suddenly focused toward me, and she immediately struck a dramatic pose with her hand across her face.

"Ho ho ho... I have foreseen your arrival here, oh Kazuma the Terrible, Champion of The Drowned Goddess. My name here is Arya the Red Wolf, user of the finest destruction magic possessed by House Stark! The Explosion Magic! We have crossed the Abyss and our fate would entwine to save this doomed world. We just need to await The Drowned Goddess and The Warrior of Darkness to come."

My heart raced as I see Lord Stark's face grew paler and paler, it seems that right now, he literally took all this chuuni bullshits, and considering the unfortunate implication of both Drowned God, and Lalatina's weird-ass pseudonym that could be taken as literal Darkness by Lord Stark. Oh well, I could bother to speak normally with her when I managed to have some time alone with her, maybe spewing some more chuuni bullshits couldn't hurt.

"Oh Megumin the Destroyer, I too have crossed the abyss and my name here is Theon of House Greyjoy, wielder of the magic of ice and fire. The Drowned Goddess and Darkness could wait for later, as I need to speak to you and your father about your powerful Explosion magic." I tried my best to say this with a straight face. Gauging from Lord Stark and Rodrik's reaction behind their pale faces, maybe I could push things a bit more. "Your father, Lord Stark, must know that *We* need to release the magic regularly, daily almost, so that the overflowing of Mana did not end up in our destruction."

"I already told him those explosions were my own work, I need to do that or the terrible conse..." said Megumin, but suddenly.

"I can't believe how easily father was duped by his new ward and our little sister." said Robb Stark, who already poked his head outside of conveniently placed wardrobe chest just at the side of Megumin's cot, while Jon Snow could be seen poking his head from behind the curtain.

"If I did not see this with my own eyes, I would not believe it Robb." said Jon Snow. "But somehow the new ward seems to already know Arya, weird."

"Robb! Jon! What are you two doing here!" said Lord Stark. Fuck, I knew that I should use 'detect enemy' first before entering said room.

"We just want to listen to Arya's funny fantastical speech again." Robb snickered while Jon only rolled his eyes as they jumped out of their hiding places. "But why would you believe them?"

Alright then, maybe, just maybe, some harmless demonstration need to be in order to convince those two boys, considering that Lord Stark practically awed by my previous demonstration of magic, but after looking at how Rodrik Cassel still has his hand resting on the pommel, it need to be something not perceived as an attack.

"Lord Stark, may I demonstrate my magic?" I said to Lord Stark, and he seems unsure about that.

"They are just children, and..." said Lord Stark.

"Am I not?" I said that in somewhat smug manner. Well, being perceived as magic prodigy in a world without magic does feel awesome.

"Yes you may."

I sighed and raised my right hand. "Tinder!" And I looked smugly upon the suddenly pale, scared faces of the two puppies in front of me.

"Hey Kazuma, Kazuma." ("Kazuma desu.") "Or maybe I should call you Theon now?" said Megumin. "Could you transfer your mana to me? I wanted to show them the beauty of my explosion too!"

"Absolutely not! Your explosion is too destructive to be used in such confined place!"

"Theon Greyjoy." said Robb suddenly "If you are a wielder of magic, why your father did lose his Rebellion?" Oh crap, think Kazuma, think, this boy is smart for his age, I need to think fast.

"What rebellion?" said Megumin in confusion. Apparently she is the one that is not updated with news, it seems.

"The Drowned Goddess did not agree with the actions of my father." I tried to explain things. "And she said my time has not come yet. Anyway..."

"The Drowned God is actually a Goddess?" questioned Lord Stark while exchanging glances with Rodrik Cassel. "You knew her?"

"Of course Father! The Drowned Goddess is one of our compa..." I quickly jump and shut Megumin's mouth with my hands before she blurted out everything that could only dig us further into deeper shit.

"I am sorry Lord Stark, but that was supposed to be the secret of the Abyss." I said while silently plead to Megumin to not speak anything more in the presence of Lord Stark, his sons, and Rodrik. "May I have some time alone with your daughter? I need to talk something to her."

"Companions of the Drowned Goddess... Doomed world... Warrior of Darkness... My daughter is the destroyer... Song of Ice and Fire..." said Lord Stark softly while holding Robb and Jon's shoulder. "Theon, we will talk about all of those later, you have your time while I need to speak to them first."

I see Rodrik is unsure about that, but Lord Stark mentioned that "He's not seven namedays old and my daughter is three namedays." Come on, I am not some sort of creepy toddlercon dammit.

As the Starks left the room and Rodrik closed the door after getting last glances at us, I scanned the room with 'enemy detection' and once again with "farsight" to ensure nobody else hidden inside the room. Once I am sure about nobody eavesdrops upon us, I released my hand from Megumin's mouth.

"What are you thinking with all the explosions? This world knew no magic user in the recent history!"

"Where is Aqua and Darkness you idiot! And Old Nan said magic is real, so I thought..."

"Why are you dragging me into this cursed world in the first place?"

"I am not allowed to do my daily explosions in Japan according to the God with thorny crown on his head! And I just regained my ability to use magic recently! Why not resume my daily explosions when that same God said..."

"You jumped before Jesus finished explaining to you!"

"Wait, you knew those two Gods? I am still confused who is Jesus and who is Buddha. You seem to have many friends on high places, I see..."

"Of course I knew them; Buddha is one of the Gods of Japan, while Jesus is the Western Gaijin's God! And why are you dragging me at the first place!"

"You said we are more than friends! We have slept and bathe together! You have hold my body in your hands while covered in slimes!" said Megumin with teary eyes. I hope Lord Stark didn't put his ear outside the door, or he may have heart attack hearing that and thinking the unthinkable, because we actually haven't done anything too far yet. Even if we could technically explain that as reincarnation, I am not sure if the concept of Reincarnation exist in Westeros outside of Iron Isles, and I knew how low the rest of Westeros' opinion on the Ironborn are, listening to the victor's words after the Siege of Pyke would tend to open your eyes like that.

(Outside of the Room, while speaking with Robb and Jon, poor Eddard Stark having a fit of sneezing at the same time.)

"If only you agreed to be reincarnated in Japan with me, we would already attend school together right now! Not stuck in this medieval shithole!"

"What is 'Medieval' Kazuma?" Oh well, I forgot that Megumin did not come from Earth, but a native from Eris' realm.

"You understand shithole, aren't you?"

"It wasn't my fault you were born in loser family, Greyjoy!" said Megumin while sticking out her tongue. "Apparently your family rebelled and smashed flat, u fu fu fu fu."

"Not my fault, my family worshipped the Drowned God, which was used to be Water-God-Who-Drowned, and right now supposed to be Aqua! You know how fucknut the Axis Cult with your own eyes? My family is also full of fucknut idiots, only more brutal!"

"Anyway, where is Aqua?"

"She never comes to my place..." I sighed while remembering what the Maester said about scrying with Glass Candle and apparently seeing Aqua was captured and tortured by some demons. "The Maesters apparently knew Magic has returned to this world, or some sort of that, and they had device or item to scry about something, but from what I've heard, they see someone who could only fit Aqua's description, surrounded by demons with pale white skin, blue eyes, and whatever."

"Serves her right! That's for forgetting to revive us!"

"Yeah, same here."

"And where's Darkness?"

"Dunno, but she should also be reincarnated in this world as well. But let's talk about more important things first, we need to arrange something with your 'daily explosion need'. Could you, at the very least, not doing that in daily basis? I'm afraid it would end up causing too much attention."

"And why not? I am the greatest Arch-Wizard in all universes! Everyone shall know the power of my ~Explosion~ Magic and tremble! For this world is doomed and I would be the new overlord!"

"Shut up! I knew it, we should've born at each other's family, at least you would not get out-of-place inside my fucknut family!"

"U fu fu fu, you wanted to have the Cool Wolf as your House Sigil aren't you?"

"Beats having Squid, I admit, but that's not the main issue."

"Your face does looks like fried squid, Kazuma!"

"Shut up, you need to have someone to carry you up after you do the explosion, right?"

"I could just aim to the empty field outside the window, from on top of my bed, it wasn't accurate as I was forced to do that without having magic staff to focus the power, but I could manage that."

"I'll think some way to have Lord Stark, your father, to accomodate your daily explosions, as I already said something in line with how magic users need to 'release' their pent up magical energy. But things will remain to be seen. At least being six-to-seven years old and able to demonstrate magic on demand meant Lord Stark is more inclined to trust me further."

"I walked the path of Explosions! There is no other..."

"At least I could get off by burning or freezing something every day, and presumably in secret, but that explosion is basically big area blast, you will need some controlled place so there will be minimum innocent victims possible! You've destroyed some parts of the wall and hurt some guards and servants, you know?"

"Don't look at me like that! That was my first explosion here!"

"Anyway, I need you to be silent as I will talk to Lord Stark about it, trust me!"

"Ano, Kazuma..."

"What?"

"And what about Aqua? Are we supposed to..."

"With I not yet seven years old and you only three? Forget it, I would not do such suicidal adventure! And it is not like Aqua could not take some ten or twenty years of Demonic torture, Darkness will envy her a lot."

"I don't wish to free Aqua, at least not right now, but I am curious about her condition, honestly."

"I'll ask if glass candle is available here, then we could laugh together at Aqua's misery." I smirked and Megumin exchanged the same smirk. "And maybe we could also found where is Darkness at the same time."

"Nice idea."

"Good, I'll call Lord Stark back, just wait."


	4. PART 4 : THEON

**PART 4 : THEON / KAZUMA**

 **Winterfell, 289 AC**

It was not the ideal compromise, but then, Megumin's insistence to do her daily explosion put my previous plan on keeping things secret become very hard or downright impossible. Thankfully, this world is still backward and stagnant that some sort of cover story could be easily believed.

Surprisingly, Lord Stark took our cover story without asking, much to my chagrin as this meant Lord Stark is someone who easily fall on scams, and I have plenty of it. Although to be really fair with him, having no other magic users for direct information, the 'need' for magic users to regularly release their pent up magical energy doesn't fall too much from the realm of possibility. Having Megumin said in no uncertain terms, that she need to release the magic build-up within her, or she will explode, is also a big motivator, as no loving father would want her own daughter to died of self-explosion, right?

Afterward, Lord Stark asked for a demonstration as soon as Megumin's magical strength returned, which she eagerly said yes upon and that is why we are here, at this very late night, on top of the old, long deserted solar of what the Starks called 'First Keep of Winterfell', with only Maester Luwin accompanying us with lantern in his hand, and Rodrik keeping guard on the bottom of the stair leading to the old solar. Seeing Megumin having the privilege of being carried in Lord Stark's arms while I must walk my little six years old feet all the way led me to shot a glare toward her smirking self.

"You may begin now, Arya... be careful to place the explosion inside the empty field, we do not wish for casualties." said Lord Stark softly while placing Megumin on the floor leading to an open balcony. Megumin predictably jump upon her father's explicit permission with glee, her crimson eyes shines and I could see Maester Luwin almost fall from the shock, while Lord Stark himself has enough fortitude to not taken aback from the sudden crimson glare out of his daughter's eyes.

"She was really touched by the Gods." said Lord Stark while Megumin crossed her arms on top of her before bent in and struck her hands on top of her head as if trying to throw something heavy overhead, the tell-tale magical orb made of orange and purple lines formed on top of her.

"My name is Arya of House Stark! By the powers of the Old Gods, by the finest ancient magic of our ancestors, topple this white world!" Several glowing circles of red and orange appeared at the rough center of the empty field outside, and I could see both Lord Stark and Maester Luwin braced themselves. "I brought the absolute blackness upon the spilled blood beneath the Sacred Tree! The red leaves burn left nothing but ashes! EXPLOSION!"

The deafening roar of explosion at the field is not an exceptional one, still below average. My points on that would be around 45/100, not even worthy of 50/100. That explosion however, is enough to drain all the color from Lord Stark and Maester Luwin's faces.

"That should be enough proof of my supreme magical power of destruction..." said Megumin who soon afterwards, fall softly into Lord Stark's concerned arms. The orb over her head already dissipated leaving only quickly dissipating blinking dots of light of magical origin. "Do not worry about me my lord father, collapsing after casting such powerful ancient magic is to be expected. This is both the blessing and the curse the Old Gods has given upon me, and I must do the explosions daily. You do not want me to be the one exploding instead because of the sheer magical energy inside of mine, right my lord father?"

I rolled my eyes as I heard Megumin invoking the Old Gods once again. Please, do not try to invoke the Old Gods with your crimson demon chuuni tendency that may backfire spectacularly. Having Aqua being the Drowned God(dess) of this world is bad enough. So the odds that the Old Gods suddenly appeared in front of you and took offense of what you just said as they technically not the one giving you your magical power? Or worse, the Old Gods turned to be as egoistic, annoying, unreliable morons like Aqua?

"If that was a must, I have no choice but to let you cast the magic as required, my daughter. I just hope you would someday master it to the point that you would not need to release it every day." said Lord Stark with his trademark fatherly smile. I willed myself not to snort at this situation, Megumin's 'needs' to do her daily explosion is solely because she has little self-control on her hobby, not some dire need to release it everyday. She has been in situations where she can't use them for days, or just plain out forgetting her daily explosion 'need', and everything still going on fine, no sudden self-explosion occured.

Megumin just smiled and falls asleep on Lord Stark's arms with a smile. Being physically three years old definitely has her own perks, especially when you add a loving father who is proven to be willing to indulge her.

"Theon, why you could still stand after casting your magic, and my daughter did not?"

"Different magic Lord Stark, this is as far as I know."

"You two are not really children, aren't you?" said Maester Luwin.

"..." I choked upon the sudden observation. Well, with Megumin casually mentioned that we have crossed the Abyss, personally knew the Drowned Goddess (that idiot Aqua), and now casually invoking Old Gods in her latest incantations filled with the usual chuuni bullshits, it would be a foregone conclusion to deduce us as 'not really children'. Cold sweats started to form on my forehead, as I did not even think about that possibility before.

I could see Lord Stark looking towards Megumin with unreadable expression on his face, but then he smiled. "She is still my daughter, and whoever you are, you are still Theon Greyjoy, my ward. As you have revealed The Drowned God, or Goddess, did not agree with the actions of your father, that was enough for me to trust you on this matter."

"... it was not a simple matter Lord Stark, not even I know who am I myself." I whispered, now genuinely confused myself because all the dramatic chuuni bullshits that keep digging us deeper and deeper into lies upon lies is too much now, I just hope I did not create some easily recognizable flaw in the backstory we created. "For while the fickle gods play their games, we never understood them fully. We have gazed upon the Abyss while the abyss gazes into us."

"I have scoured the scrolls regarding 'Kazuma The Terrible' and 'Megumin The Destroyer', and found none references regarding them so far." said Maester Luwin in apparently uncertain tone. "Yet both of your magic is very real. What is the meaning of this? Is your name is actually Kazuma The Destroyer?"

For once, I feel as if I just should prostrate in front of Lord Stark and Maester Luwin, begging them for forgiveness over all the chuuni bullshits, just like Aqua once prostrated herself in front of the Winter Shogun. But because I have a tingling sense that admitting everything may earn me one way ticket to the Wall due to my background (and I envy Megumin, who could actually get away with all of this due to being Lord Stark's beloved daughter).

"Umm, you see... somehow..." I tried to cobble up some believeable lies that may satisfy them, but apparently I am not chuuni enough to just come with those on the fly short of just admitting that was our old names, and we reincarnated here due to his daughter dragged me into this world. "Names..." Oh crap, I couldn't think anything to be a believeable cover story short of admitting reincarnation.

"Peace Luwin, we only knew parts of them, and the other parts were lost to history, who are we to judge when my daughter and my ward just prove their magic is very real?" said Lord Stark with concern seeing how my face suddenly very wet with cold sweats.

"It was our true name. The name used by Gods to call upon us." said Megumin (who somehow already awakened again) while smirking at how my face almost turned into sweaty mush. "Do not invoke them lightly as those are the names who sealed our magical powers within. If you invoke them without purpose, great catastrophes would surely befall this world." Oh well, that kind of lies again, but this time thank you for saving my ass. "Theon sweated here because when you invoke his true name without purpose and without permission, his powers will go into flux, and we could be very well either trapped in icy prison or burned to cinder." Of course, predictably, Maester Luwin's face grew pale when he heard of it.

"I am sorry Lord Stark, but I must release this..." I said, feigning as if I was in a great discomfort, before casting a stream of freeze magic toward the corner, causing some ice to form at the walls and the floor. "Ahhhh... that's better now." I was drained up a bit but as long as it plays up to Megumin's reasoning.

"That looks like you just peed your Magic... K... Theon." said Megumin, and both Lord Stark and Maester Luwin choked at that mention. Holy shit, it does looks like I peed at the corner, with magical pee that caused things to froze, but still.

"What do you want otherwise? For me to burn down this keep with fire?" I snapped at her. "And Lord Stark, those are just ice, normal ice, not pee. You see that comes out from my hand, aren't you?"

"..." both men are just looking speechless toward the frozen corner.

"Lord Stark? Maester Luwin?"

"... uhh... well, let's not talk anything about this, Theon." said Lord Stark in awkward manner, Maester Luwin nodded weakly behind him.

"So that's the reason why those names never written." said Maester Luwin. "I have read and heard the concept of 'True Name' in Magic, but never thought that would be very awkward..."

"That's not..."

"Let's not talk about this."

"OK." I said while looking down to my feet, I could see Megumin snickered on top of Lord Stark's arms.

"Theon, Arya, I want to ask to both you, is that fine if I speak to my lady wife about Arya's magical needs, at least?" said Lord Stark.

"She didn't believe my words and keep saying about magic being an abominable arts forbidden by The Seven."

"Wait, The Seven?" I immediately choked upon the mention of... wait a moment... 'The Seven'? 'Seven-Faced-Usurper' definitely rang a bell in my mind because Jesus and Buddha mentioned that as one of the Greater Demon Kings, but as far as I know, the followers of the Faith of The Seven is actually just normal medieval people, far from being as loony as those Ironborn or Axis Cult, in fact. But with their attitude on magic, this may pose some problem, so...

"My lady wife coming from House Tully of Riverrun, and she still kept her Faith of The Seven." said Lord Stark softly. "But she has no qualms about accompanying me into the Godswoods or such."

"Maybe you could just tell Lady Stark and ask her to be not too bothered about Arya's condition Lord Stark." I said while Megumin quickly nods her head in confirmation. "Just allocate that field for Arya's magical practice, and put some warning signs about explosion danger around that."

"It does make some sense." said Lord Stark while closing his eyes. "That field has been long unused anyway, and you could simply cast your magic from the nursery, right?"

"Of course I can, my power has limit beyond normal human perception, as I could bring destruction as far as the horizon where my eyes could see and as far as where I could focus upon my power." said Megumin while gesturing a huge circle with her hands. "Casting Explosion from the nursery window, or everything where I could still see the target is nothing but a small task!"

"And you could blame the explosions on some 'faulty old runes' buried beneath the field if you wish, Lord Stark." I added hopefully giving him a good cover story for that, but much to my surprise (and apparently Megumin too).

"I would not lie to anybody the cause of the explosions, I would simply tell my people that my daughter has the touch of the Old Gods inside of her, and thus needed to cast her magic into safe place everyday. Truth would be better than lies as that means she could cast your magic in predictable times." said Lord Stark while rustling Megumin's hair.

"..." I simply didn't know if this guy is either naively stupid or actually an intelligent thinker. "But what about me? I would prefer casting my magic in secret because..."

"That's why my oath to you to keep your magic secret still stands, and both Robb and Jon will do the same. Having a Greyjoy proven capable to use magic may not be well received by others, especially those who suffered under your father's attacks." Lord Stark stated the obvious thing and I gulped. Oh well, just remembered that my family name is widely hated in some part of Westeros. "Or even from your own family trying to take you back and forced you to work for them."

Which honestly would be bad, my father Balon seems to be rather hands off in his parenting style, but seeing how fanatically idiot he could, I started to imagine myself being forced to work with him as he started another rebellion.

"The Drowned Goddess did not agree with my father's actions." I just hope Aqua would not end up coming too early and start giving her approval to my father, may those demons, whatever they are, managed to keep her locked out for some time.

"Good then, as long as you do not flaunt your magic in the open, I could guarantee your safety." Lord Stark smiled while walking down the old corridors with Maester Luwin follows behind.

Down at the entrance, we met with Rodrik, who still barked some orders to calm the panicked guards and servants, ensuring them that the explosion is a controlled one. Lord Stark and Maester Luwin helping him immediately in this regard, and I am satisfied, to be honest, Megumin's daily explosion need just get a proper solution, not the perfect solution as it would be known to everyone she is the culprit of that magical explosion, but it could be worked up from there.

I bid all of them good night and walked into my room at the guest chamber. My first day here feels really, really long, but at least I have met with Megumin and ensure her safety.

...

The next day, I awoke on the bed of my room, apparently everything going as normal as possible. I heard servants mentioned that Lord Stark sacrificed some pigs and cows to the heart tree as token of thanks for their blessings to his daughter. Apparently even animal sacrifices has been not in practice for long, and people used to just pray to the heart tree or whatever they called the ominous white tree with red leaves with human face carved on their trunk. Also, the guards and servants do mentioned about 'magical gift on young lady Arya Stark', and apparently did not make much fuss about that too.

As I entered the dining hall, I smelled the delicious aroma coming from the rather lavish meat-dominant meal on top of the table. I spotted Megumin happily chewing on some roasted meat together with Robb and Jon, with Megumin herself seated on top of the table.

"Oh Theon! Father said he would be there soon after he finished the ancient rituals with the other lords present, the Old Gods apparently demands thank you present for their blessing to our little sister here!" said Robb Stark while I could see Megumin looked at me smugly for a while before back to dig the roasted meat present in front of her.

Oh come on Megumin, what kind of bullshit you spewed about that? Your father is a Lord dammit, all you just need to do is ask for those delicious roasted meat, and he will ask the servants to do that, no need to pull some fantastic story of the Old Gods wanted animal sacrifices again so you could get those meats! But then I may need to play along, so much to not breaking our chuuni drama too early, so...

"Well, that's neat." I said while picking my seat next to Jon. "Am I allowed to eat together with you today?"

"Of course! That was expected Squid!" said Robb. "Servants! Give this squid his share of meal!"

...

As soon as we finished our meal together, however, Lady Stark come and snatched Megumin from the table without saying anything, I couldn't really tell, but her face seems to be very worried about something.

"But mother! I still wanted to play..." plead Megumin weakly as Lady Stark just slung her over her shoulder. Behind her, I could see another woman dressed like a catholic nun followed close.

"We need to talk in the Sept now, Arya." said Lady Stark while walking outside the dining hall. I looked at Robb and Jon, but they only exchanged the same confused look between them.

Uh-oh...


	5. PART 5 : THEON

**PART 5 : THEON / KAZUMA**

 **Winterfell, 289 AC**

I hope Megumin will not get into any deep trouble with her mother.

It was very tempting to use my lurking skill and try shadowing Megumin from behind to ensure her safety, but on the other hand, it may be a bad idea to suddenly 'vanish and can't be found' when Robb said Lord Stark would be expecting him soon. I sighed over the ominous feelings as Megumin could be clearly heard calling for help towards Robb, Jon and even myself as Lady Stark carried her further and further towards the Sept.

"Robb, Jon, why are you two not helping your little sister?" I asked awkwardly while Robb and Jon looking uncomfortably towards the direction where Megumin is carried off.

"Arya... not going well with mother." said Robb while closing his eyes. "She is a smart girl, learned to speak and even read when being one and a half nameday old babe. Mother used to read her The Seven Pointed Star, sang lullabies at the nursery, spoil her more than Sansa, but one day, Arya claimed herself to be the greatest Arch Wizard wielding the most powerful ancient spell, and then she said The Seven are Demons."

I gulped, as I could relate to what Megumin endured, having your memories return gradually definitely mess things up with my perception, but at least I realized quickly enough to not gathering any kind of unwanted attentions onto myself. Sure, Jesus and Buddha would not lie when they said something about 'Seven-Faced-Usurper' being Greater Demon King, but at least it would be better to not take their attentions right now.

I still remember my idiot father telling idiotic stories about how the great days of Ironborn past will return and how we would reave the Greenlanders dry, making us rich with plunders. Apparently Aqua's father was depicted as some sort of Pirate God with either extremely potent revival powers, or having some erection problems, so he tried to psych his confidence up. As the words of 'What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger', has been used in both capacities, the later is very apparent when my parents has their weekly fight and whatever they do in their chamber afterward, much to my mental trauma.

Anyway, Robb waving his hand in front of my face snapped me back to reality that I am currently living in Winterfell instead of Pyke. No thanks to Aqua being absent from her duty as Drowned Goddess due to her stupidity.

"Ah, sorry Robb, where are we again?"

"Umm... about Arya?" said Robb in confusion.

"Right, so she claimed The Seven are actually Demons, right? Is your mother end up angry at her afterward?"

"Actually no, at least not until today, both Mother and Septa Mordane usually just smiled, chided her lightly, and thought that was just Arya reading too much about The Old Gods with me and Jon reading to her, just spewing old first men sayings against Andals, or, so they said." said Robb softly. "Mother said The Seven would forgive Arya because she did not truly know what she said, as little children are innocent and beloved in the eyes of The Seven. Even when the explosions started, mother and Septa Mordane always ensure Arya's safety first, before checking upon me or Sansa, even as Arya claimed that was her great ancient magic of destruction. She always blamed Jon instead for filling Arya's head with such insane stories."

"..." I looked at Jon who for obvious reasons, averted his eyes when Robb mentioned his mother's actions. I decided to place my hand on Jon's shoulder. "Not your fault Jon." as he nods back to me.

"That was before last night, with everyone knowing that Arya do has the capability to really use *that* ancient Magic of Destruction, her words about The Seven being Demons started to be taken seriously by those who worship The Old Gods. Mother cried all night after learning the truth about Arya."

"You do believe in the Old Gods instead of The Seven eh, Robb?" I tried to gauge this boy's reaction. Things would be bad if he took after his mother's faith.

"Of course, father told me that as the future Lord of Winterfell, I am expected to worship the Old Gods. Mother has read me The Seven Pointed Star too, but she said that sometimes faith and politics could not be mixed."

"Ah, the politics of Medieval religions." I said softly.

"What is Medieval?"

"Pardon my Ironmen speech. That was polite form for Southron culture." I said sheepishly while mentally cursing that the people I born on is not even Medieval, but more of straight up Morons cobbled up with whatever bullshits Aqua's father used to spew.

"After yesterday though, with both you and Arya being obviously touched by The Gods, Arya's words about The Seven being Demons did start to make some sense." said Robb softly. "Father tried his best to explain that to Mother, but Mother only screamed something about how that was against her religion."

"Wait Robb, that means M... Arya is in danger! What if your mother tried to do something against her?"

"Some harsh words and mother would cry herself while pleading to The Seven. Do not worry Theon, my mother is not someone who would raise her hand against her own children." said Robb while his eyes looking at Jon, who once again, only look down towards the floor.

"..."

"Anyway, you want to accompany us to the Godswoods right Theon?" questioned Robb. "My father is still there so maybe meeting him first would be better!"

"The Drowned Goddess Aqua is one of the Old Gods, just having different jurisdiction as she is the Goddess of Water, Healing, Party Tricks, Drunkenness, Debt... wait, forget I said the later three." I suddenly realized I get carried on with the two boys and blurted out Aqua's true name and my personal beef against her.

"Actually that's make sense for Ironborn Goddess, no insult intended Theon. You are being one of the few touched by The Gods after all." said Robb in amused face. "I wish I could meet her someday, sounds like a fun Goddess to be worshiped."

"If she is one of the Old Gods, then we should have no problem worshiping her alongside the other Old Gods too." said Jon.

Oh come on, you don't say I just inadvertently converted these two puppies to following Axis cult? "Uhm... I am not sure, the things with the Gods is rather confusing, to be honest."

"What are we to judge the Gods?" said Robb with a smile, and I mentally added 'you don't meet the most useless most annoying Goddess yet'.

"... alright, shall we go there?"

...

Jory Cassel could be seen standing by the Iron Gate that guarded the path to the Godswoods, and when we asked about where Lord Stark is, he led us into the rather large Godswoods of Winterfell. From what I see, there are some blood pooled under a huge white tree with red leaves, bearing a mysterious face carved upon its trunk. I just hope whatever chuuni bullshit Megumin has pulled, it would not fall upon us in the most spectacularly disastrous way.

I see Lord Stark sitting near a pool of water at the side of that tree. He smiled toward us and raises his hand.

"I hope you would not be bothered by the sacrificial ritual, my daughter told me."

"I am not bothered at all Lord Stark." Damn Megumin and all her chuuni bullshit, I pitied Lord Stark being such naive father as well too.

"Good, you three should start this day by practicing your numbers with Maester Luwin this morning, and afterwards, Jory would help you to practice riding after Lunch."

...

The lesson of numbers is rather boring for me, come on, I already learned at high school level on earth, and even back at Pyke, I already taught higher numbers and coin exchange rate (which is downright nightmare to 1 golden dragon = 210 silver stags = 11760 copper pennies exchange ratio. Not counting halfpenny, copper star and groat, and silver moon, with all their weird exchange ratio too. I could see both Robb and Jon struggling with their numbers however, and being a good high school level student, and trying to earn good boy points from the Starks of course, I helped both of them with the concept of addition and subtraction.

We have some roasted meat and boiled vegetables for lunch, and we all seated on the corner of the table, eating together like some elementary schoolboys.

Before I see a little figure darting out from the corridors and quickly jumped on the table.

"K... Theon! Robb! Jon! Please hide me! Quick!" said Megumin who appears to be very exhausted from her latest action.

"What happened Arya?" questioned Robb.

"The Demon Worshipers forced me to pray to their Greater Demon King! They wanted to hamstring my magical powers!"

I then see Lady Catelyn entered the dining hall, her eyes red and wet from the tears.

"Please Arya! Please! We just want to help you!" Lady Stark cried. "Please Arya! I do not want my daughter to die over stupid magical curse when it could be removed by The Seven!"

"NO I DON'T WANNA!" shouted Megumin while try to hide behind us.

"Robb, please, hand over your sister!" said Lady Stark with her coarse voice.

"I never want to worship your Seven-Faced Demon! I am the greatest Arch-Wizard and The Old Gods gave me this power of absolute destruction! I would not bow to the false religion hellbent on bringing doom upon this realm! To surrender my magic is to doom this world!"

"Magic of The Old Gods is real now mother, you should not meddle in the affairs of The Old Gods." said Robb in defense of his little sister.

"I don't care if you all want to worship the Old Gods, all I care is to lift the curse so Arya would not die because she forgets her daily explosion!"

Crap, I feel very guilty right now, and I could only see Megumin having unreadable expression upon her face.

"Patience my lady, we never worked with this kind of thing before." said the nun while placing her hand on Lady Stark's shoulder. "We would ask if Lord Stark gave us permission to write..."

"Catelyn, we need to talk first, leave Arya alone now." said Lord Stark who appeared behind his wife, he apparently also involved in the wild chase of Megumin. I could not help but feeling some sort of guilt over how Megumin end up causing her mother such heartache like this. But still, as her mother is Demon worshiper, who knows what lies behind that motherly smile of her, so I steeled my resolve while exchanging glances with her.

Because of this ruckus, nobody in Winterfell questioned us when Megumin end up following us to the stables. While she is too small to be put on the saddle, she at least satisfied enough by watching us boys practice riding.

And now, as night come...

...

Let's say that this spectacle is, pretty much the opposite of what happened previously. Apparently Lord Stark's choice to simply open his daughter's 'gift from the Old Gods', is rather very well-received by the Northmen. Maybe Megumin's story about how the Old Gods wanted the animal sacrifices back also feed the illusion that everything is the gift of the Old Gods, and this is definitely better than everyone else going torch-and-pitchfork upon us.

I stand together with Robb and Jon at the balcony overseeing the eastern field where Megumin would do her daily explosion ritual. Many of the battlements and windows overseeing that particular area is packed with Men-At-Arms, Guards, and Servants wanting to see the magical explosion as if it was something entertaining to watch, pretty much the opposite of chaos we had yesterday. Apparently knowing that this explosion is magical gift from 'The Old Gods' caused this to become treated as some sort of entertainment instead of causing sheer terror.

Thankfully the balcony where we stand is barred to most commoners and even some lower nobility. Lord Stark holding Megumin in his arms where Robb, Jon, and myself stand behind him together with Maester Luwin and Jory Cassel (the old Rodrik apparently is outside keeping some orders). An old woman also stand behind us, children, with worried look at her face. I could also see some other men, apparently some of higher Lords that still being guests at Winterfell, stand some distance away from us, some talks among themselves but many actually look reverently toward Megumin, for obvious reasons.

Lord Stark gently placed Megumin on the floor of the balcony, Megumin beamed like crazy as being watched by a lot of people actually caused her Chuuni ego to inflate even more. Her eyes flash with crimson, and she posed with her right hand opened in front of her face, before struck both her hands on top of her head in an exeregated dramatic spin.

"My name is Arya of House Stark!" The tell-tale magical ball of staff-less explosion casting formed on top of Megumin's head. "Oh blackness shrouded in light! Frenzied blaze clad in night!" Ah well, the magical glowing circles of red and orange appeared on the field, much to many gasps of the viewers, with some shouting praises to the Old Gods at that. "In the name of the Old Gods and the Sacred Tree! Summon before me the root of thy powers! I am the alias of destruction incarnate! Be the hammer of my magic befall and break the light! EXPLOSION!"

The explosion blast soared high and brought winds upon our face, not particularly strong one, but apparently enough to *really* impress the assembled Northmen viewers of this particular scene. The roar of the blast is actually supplemented by the equally loud roar of cheers Megumin received from the audience.

Alright, 90/100 then, basically better than her average explosion, but still not an exceptional one. I think it would be appropriate now to give Megumin a thumbs up and I done just that, as she looks at me, she also do the thumbs up pose before slumping and falling asleep in Lord Stark's arms. I could see both Robb and Jon also do the same pose as well too.

"To think I would live to see the return of magic..." said the old woman softly with tears in her eyes.

"This is Magnificient Lord Stark!" said the big man in chain mail with what looks like gorilla sigil on his orange-red tabard. "Marvelous."

"Old Gods be praised." said a pale eyed man in off-pink jacket with red human sigil softly.

"Praise The Old Gods!" said another man in black jacket and white sun sigil.

"Hammer of The Old Gods, brought before our eyes." said yet another man with green jacket and black bear sigil.

"She used different chant than yesterday." said Maester Luwin while quickly dip his quill into a conveniently placed ink pot, before scratching his quill into parchment he carried to this very balcony in rushed speed. I felt bad for him to attempt to record Megumin's chuuni spell chants because he would end up creating a big tome full of bullshit spells if he kept doing this every time Megumin chant her spell.

"Old Nan..." said Lord Stark while handing over Megumin's sleeping body to the old woman who is presumably Megumin's nanny here. "Jory, accompany Arya back to the nursery, let the boys come around as long as they did not bother her rest." said Lord Stark while looking to the lords present there.

"My daughter did warn us about the Doom that will come. Of undeads, goblins, giants, beast men, and various other monsters and demons who will come to ravage the world of Men. She is very young but with her magic being proven, we could not take her words lightly. As it stands, the Night's Watch is severely undermanned and the Castles along the Wall has been fallen into disrepair, while we cannot determine the time of the things that will come according to her vision, the very least we could do is increase our supports for them back to the time before the Targaryen unification of Westeros."

"The Southron may think otherwise, my lord." said the big man in chain mail. "It was known that The Seven did not."

"I will write to King Robert Baratheon about this, this is a serious forewarning from The Old Gods themselves. We will discuss the details later in my solar." said Lord Stark with a tone of finality, and the viewers started to scatter themselves as what is left to view is only glowing, smoldering crater on the field.

I bite my tongue a bit, willing myself to not chortle upon Lord Stark's declaration. The only imminent doom this world is threatened with is Aqua getting imprisoned by Demons, and the longer the Demons could hold her, the better. I have learned from my past adventure with Aqua that she is a disaster magnet, and keeping her away is practically guaranteeing the safety of this world. And Megumin's warnings? All are chuuni bullshits as she herself admitted to me in the afternoon, when Robb and Jon decided to race their horses again, and I was left sitting with Megumin at the stable, she outright told me that everything is nothing but joke as I pinched her cheeks.

Alright then, as long as that particular lies of her did not end up causing too much harm, whatever. I do feel bad for Lord Stark and the others as Lord Stark said they planned to repair the long abandoned castles along The Wall (what a waste of money) and try to help fill the Night's Watch's manpower quota. As long as I did not end up land my ass there, I frankly did not care about that as that just means the Night's Watch would be swelled by extra prisoners from around the North.

As we boys walked alongside Old Nan and Jory towards the nursery however, my detection sense is tingling, and as I discreetly scanned the surrounding scenery, I could see a three eyed crow perched on the window nearby, looking at me. Well, just a mutant crow, apparently harmless enough as my danger sense did not register it as source of danger, so I decided to just ignore it.

...

Later that night, after playing with Robb and Jon for a time, I walked back into my room at the guest chamber, so end my second day here, and everything would be fine. Most of the servants are already asleep, and I am already sleepy as hell. As I closed the door, I could see the same three eyed crow perching on my window, crowing rather loudly. This mutant crow is annoying, so I snatched nearby broom and tried whack it, but it was faster and flies around in my room.

I throw the broom toward the crow, just want it to go away, so I could sleep, but said mutant crow keep staying in my room. I throw the broom again, but the crow just land and perched on top of my wardrobe chest.

Ah, so this mutant bird want to play eh? I could capture it and use it for tomorrow's play with Robb and Jon, and maybe have Maester Luwin preserve it as some sort of decoration, that would be cool.

I took the empty ink pot that lies on my table and aimed that towards the three eyed crow, that seems to smugly perched itself on top of that chest.

"SNIPE" I said that as I throw the ink pot and the crow tried to fly at the last moment, but my ink pot still hit it in the body and it falls down to the floor. I quickly pounced upon it and successfully curl my fingers around this mutant bird's neck.

"SQUAWK!" the mutant crow freaked out.

"Now you're a dead meat, freak!" I said triumphantly toward the mutant crow, but that crow squirms and pecked my hand, it was painful. "YEEEOWWWCCHHH!"

At least that damned crow now flies out toward the night sky. "Fuck you mutant freak! Come back here if you dare!" I said while brandishing the broom out of my window, before deciding that I should just sleep and forget about it, it was only a mutant crow after all.

I caressed the red mark said mutant crow left on my hand, it stings but nothing too deep, apparently.

Well, good night then.

ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴ


	6. PART 6 : EDMURE

**PART 6 : EDMURE TULLY**

 **Riverrun, 289 AC**

I sighed as my father folded the parchment and placed it on the table in front of me, he reached for his cup and lift them with a sense of uncertainty.

"Well my son? What is your opinion on your eldest sister's letter?" father said with a sigh. "I would not lie that I now hope Brynden was here right now instead of at the Vale, I never thought this kind of madness would come from the North."

I reluctantly took the parchment, unfolded it, and while most of the letter could be dismissed as simple familial communication, father handed me the myrish lens and I could see the hidden cipher that is only known to us, Tully, written between the lines.

"This had come from Winterfell this morning. While I would never question the loyalty of Eddard Stark to King Robert Baratheon, and how King Robert would never treat the Starks as anything but close friends." My father sipped some of his wine and place his cup on the table afterward. "If this madness were true, this could be a massive disaster in the making."

I slanted my eyes toward the lens, carefully read the cipher, afterwards I snorted and laughed as I can't even bother to hide my amusement.

"Apparently your oh-so-ideal daughter has been adopting the Northmen custom of being drunk out of their ass! OUCH!" I stopped my laugh when father slapped me across the face. "Come on father, this is simply too insane to be believed! No need to get all that worked... OUCH!"

"This is not a simple laughing matter Edmure, I know your elder sister, and she will not send this kind of ciphered letter if there is no dire need to do this."

"She was drunk out of her ass!" I said in indignation, father raised his hand as if tried to slap me once again, but apparently he decided to not doing that as he pulls his hand back.

"You are a seventeen namedays old man already and would be the next Lord of Riverrun." said father with a weary face. "I must be honest with you, my son. I cannot really rationalize what actually happened in the North."

My father closed his eyes for a while before shifting to his side and drawing a new cup from the drawer under his table. He poured some wine into the cup and placed it in front of me. "Please my son, I knew this may be too much, but for this once, take this matter seriously. Please, sit with me and told me, what would happen if this madness were actually true?"

"But father, no sane man would believe a three namedays old..." I gulped as my father sunk his back into his chair in weariness.

"Whatever was happening, it was not good at all. With things coming so close just right after the Greyjoy's Rebellion over their insane worship of their Drowned God." said father while taking another sip of his own cup. "I do hope that, as you already said, The Northmen may be just all drunkards writing unbelievable ramblings, and your sister just got carried away with all their madness."

"... go on Father, I am listening now." I said in a serious tone, and my father relaxed his face a little.

"The first explosion at Winterfell was reported to occur on the Eastern Wall, there was no reported fatality, only a few guards and servants that happened to be present on or under said battlement was hurt by debris, as the first explosion did occur on less manned section of the outer wall of Winterfell. Subsequent explosions afterwards happened on the mostly empty field located further east."

"Maester Vyman did say that the Explosions at Winterfell may have something to do with Magic, after all. He said that the glass candles did signify the return of Magic, and we all knew..."

"This is what I feared my son, Magic has returned and it is the source of all the madness happened on this land. From Aerys' madness, Rhaegar's kidnapping of Lyanna Stark and the subsequent war, the sudden rebellion of The Greyoys... and now my three years old Stark granddaughter being touched by the Old Gods, denounced the Seven as Demons, all while turned out to be the one behind mysterious explosions around Winterfell."

"She is just a three years old babe father, even if the Old Gods really gift her with magic, her claiming The Seven as demons could be brushed aside as something a fanatic would say towards the other Gods. Let's not forget that this is not the sole occurrence of someone denouncing the Seven as demons, as you know... that peculiar Greyjoy we used to imprison when his brother rebelled?" I said while remembering that particular man we used to host inside our dungeon just recently.

"You meant the Insane Blue Squid who washed ashore at Seagard at the end of his brother's rebellion?" father said with a wry smile. "The other Greyjoys actually outright refuse to take him back to Pyke after he claimed that their Drowned God is actually Drowned Goddess. He did amuse us to no end, claimed that the Drowned Goddess did not bless his brothers' rebellion because they did not give her enough wine, and self-anointed himself as a prophet of the Drowned Goddess while trying to convert us to his delusional religion that even another Ironborn found insane."

"Well, he did denounce the Seven as demons, remember?" I smiled while remembering all the ridiculous claims coming from this particular Greyjoy.

"Yes, he repeatedly denounces the Seven as demons, but that was expected from such mad Greyjoy, after all. Not from my three namedays old Stark granddaughter."

"And you are the one who just let him get out of Riverrun, you could have executed him as even his family had already disowned him at the first place."

"Well, he served our interests more by being alive. The Insane Blue Squid spread such ridiculous claim against The Drowned God, that everyone deemed would actually hurt Ironborn reputation more by being such laughingstock. His claim that the Drowned Goddess needs your prayers unto her to power her up against Two Greater Demon Kings tag teaming and imprisoning her is just the start." Father smiled briefly before turned back into his more serious expression. "Even if he irritated The Faith enough that they want him dead, it would not hurt us in any manner. Arya Stark's magic however..."

"You actually think this is real father? Nobody actually took the latest news going out from Winterfell seriously, King Robert himself included. These explosions at Winterfell may have to do with something magical in origin, with all the unblessed ancient runes and how they lacked protection from The Seven. But for three years old to have such magic at her disposal?"

"Edmure, you are not helping me."

"Enough of this madness father, Cat could be actually drunk out of her ass by following her husband's oh-so-called Northmen drunkenness. I am sorry if I am rude with you, but this is just too insane to be believed or even considered at the first place."

"My granddaughter's life is at stake Edmure, your niece, your own blood. She is doomed by the Old Gods to cast her monstrous magic at least once a day, or she will explode herself and die. Such cruel fate for such a young, innocent girl."

"This is rather unbelievable father." I said while taking Cat's letter once again, spending some time re-reading all of her delusions, and place that back on the table. "Her explosion magic is so enormous, it caused massive destruction in a wide area far away, and the ground tremble every time the magic was cast... tell me father, how could be a little three years old girl had such powers at her disposal? It simply did not make any sense."

"..."

"Cat was drunk when she wrote this."

"Leave Edmure!" apparently my father's foul mood returned again. "LEAVE!"

I can't help but sighed and leave my father's study and muttered a curse toward my elder sister. Her letter simply did not make any sense and all she has done is making our father wrecked with sadness.

"Do not tell anyone else of this, my son..." said father from inside of his study, and I only nod back at him before resuming my walk out of his room. Of course, I would never tell anyone about this, my elder sister apparently turned into drunkard, and I did not want to end up as another laughingstock by telling anyone that kind of insanity at the first place.

...

Speaking of which, I remembered something that was left by the Insane Blue Squid when he gets out from Riverrun, apparently to found the *Axis Order of The Drowned Goddess* or some sort of insane scam religion being offshoot from already hard to believe faith of The Drowned God. A particular painting of a beautiful girl in indecent dress drawn upon it after that insane Greyjoy requests a canvas, brush, and some paint as a token of his gratitude for his release. It was given to me by that insane Greyjoy as some kind of thanks for treating him rather decently at the time of his imprisonment.

Said girl is indeed beautiful, she has long blue hair, blue eyes, and what mattered to me most is her indecent dress. Said Greyjoy told me that this is the image of The Drowned Goddess, but I thought this was just some sort of erotic painting considering she shown too much of her ass. Whatever then, if this insane Greyjoy turned into a famous painter someday, I could proudly claim that I have his first painting displayed in my chamber.

I closed the door to my chamber and looked at the painting of said beautiful girl posted just across my bed.

"Hello my pretty. If not for how that insane Greyjoy claimed you as the Drowned Goddess, you would be the girl of my dream." I whispered to said painting before throwing myself on top of my bed and try to have some sleep after all the insane shit Cat wrote to my father that caused all of this ruckus.

...

"Go find Darkness you fish-NEET! My priest shall await you!"

...

"What?" I said while suddenly awakened by a girl's voice coming from somewhere in my room. I looked around but found nobody there.

Alright, must be only my imagination.

...


	7. PART 7 : EDMURE

**PART 7 : EDMURE TULLY**

 **Riverrun, 289 AC**

"Fish-NEET! Wake up and find Darkness! Fish-NEET! Wake up!"

I felt cold bite on my hands and face as if I am laying on a thick layer of snow, and I noticed that this is definitely not my chamber at Riverrun, but somewhere dark, cold, and yes, as far as I can see, there is only snow. And in occasion like this, there is only one thing I could think about as I raised my body from the prone position.

"WOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" I screamed as I definitely do not know what in seven Hells just happened, but before I could even realize, there is... something... directly in front of my face and it screams as well.

"KKKKYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAA!" screamed the creature, and I could only continue my scream in exchange.

"WOOOOOAAAAA... A... A...?!" I realized that I just screamed in front of a girl's face, I tried to stop, but said girl did not stop her shrill voice.

"KKKKYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAA!" said girl suddenly slap her hand across my face and threatened to slap me again with the other hand, causing me to jump out of her incoming hand out of reflex. I started to think why I didn't return to the ground as my body keeps flying into the sky, but then I feel as if something hard hit my head.

*THWACK*

"OUCH! What was that for?" I shouted but then I realized that I am no longer lying on that dark, cold, snowy place, but at the floor of my room at Riverrun again, my head is sore because I just apparently fallen some distance away from my bed. I rubbed the sore side of my head, and looked at the closed window.

I lifted the bolt and opened the window, "Morning already?" I said to nobody in particular as I still felt the apparent result of my unfortunate dream. My head seems to have a nasty bump, and for somewhat reasons, my cheek is still sore from the slap in my dream. "That girl..."

I remember the face of the girl in my dream, as I glimpsed her distinctive blue hair as well as her bright blue eyes. I take a quick look towards the painting given to me by that Insane Blue Squid and realized that the girl pictured in the painting is the very same girl who screamed at and slapped me across the face in my dream. I chuckled while touching my cheek, not expecting anything but when I touch my cheek it stings. Did I hurt my cheek somehow? But I didn't fall upon my cheek!

I decided to take a look in the mirror to look if there are cuts or bruises, but to my horror, there is a red, painful handprint of a woman's hand visible across my cheek, exactly at the same place where I feel said girl slapped me in my dream.

"HUH? WHAT!?"

...

This morning, I only wanted to hide as I just can't hide that damned slap mark from my face. Servants and guardsmen said nothing in front of my face, but when they thought that I did not pay attention to them, they started to snicker between themselves and said something in range from 'must be a rough night', to 'who is the lucky girl who got away with that'. My father would hear those rumors, and combined with his foul mood from yesterday, this may end up with me being sent to Old Septon Osmynd for yet another lecture on why whoring and bedding women that is not your wife is a grave sin in the eyes of The Seven.

As soon as I finished my breakfast, I donned my training armor and headed straight to the training ground to release my emotions there. I deliberately singled out the guards who dared snickered behind my back, gave them a good beating with blunted sword at the training hall, and that feels good. Sill, while my workout did improve my mood somewhat, I am still sour about how that girl could slap me in my dream and left the mark even after I had awakened.

Speaking of the de... wait the Holy Man, I passed Old Septon Osmynd and father as they walked through the hallway, I tried to look to the other side as father looked at my face, but he and the old Septon stopped their walk and called me.

"Edmure, you are going with us." said father in a stern voice, and what could I do now? I slumped my shoulder as I resigned for another long lecture. But much to my surprise, we did not walk into the Sept, but into my father's study with Maester Vyman already inside.

Father did look at my face and apparently noticed the slap mark, but choose only to glower at me for a while, before he opened Cat's letter once again.

"Septon Osmynd, before today, we rarely brought a Holy Man to discuss this kind of matter. But as we need your particular opinions in some of these matters, and as it involve some certain confidential practices of our House, you will swear in front of The Seven first that you will give your absolute discretion about some of the more sensitive matters involved that could be used or misconstrued against the interests of House Tully be it now or in the future." Father opened the discussion by confirming Old Septon Osmynd's discretion. As outside of the Tully family themselves, only Maesters directly sworn to serve Riverrun has been brought into our family secrets involving certain cipher we used to communicate most confidential information between ourselves.

"I swear upon The Seven Who Are One, I will give my absolute discretion at this matter." said the Old Septon while placing his hand on top of The Seven-Pointed Star he brought.

"Good, we shall start by examining the outright bizarre occurrences at Winterfell from the very beginning." said father and I could already see this day would turn into another boring session of discussion, trying to make sense weird things that those Tree Worshipers do within their own realm. Why did father just can't accept Cat is drunk on her ass and decided to write all the letters to screw with our head?

"The rumors coming from Winterfell are disturbing indeed to us, the faithful of The Seven." said the Old Septon in neutral tone. "While the rumors are very different from what occurred in Iron Isles before the Greyjoy's Rebellion, their claims about supernatural powers of their Old Gods are extremely discomforting at the very least."

"It does not bear the tidings of Rebellions, however. Merchants did mention that Lord Stark did order supplies to be brought into the Night's Watch in raised quantity compared to what they used to do before. There are movements of some smallfolk laborers to the North, ordered to help with the farming and maintaining of the Old and New Gift, as well as to help to repair the previously abandoned castles located along The Wall itself, as if they were expecting The Wall to be attacked by something other than wildlings." said father before mentioning Cat's letters to us, neatly arranged on top of the table. "And this is all occurred after the reports of Explosions happened around Winterfell, and this actually started before Eddard Stark even set his feet on Winterfell after the end of Greyjoy's Rebellion."

I smirked inside, as more Northmen drunk rambling taken seriously, as usual. No offense to Northmen, I actually liked them, but sometimes things are just too ridiculous to be believed.

"Many, including Lord Hand himself, did not believe at the first glance that the Explosions are magical in nature even though they are curious of what actually happened. Further reports, however, outrageously claimed that Lord Stark's three namedays old daughter are both blessed and cursed by The Old Gods to have prophetic visions about things to come as well as..." said Maester Vyman but father cut him in.

"And that very same three namedays old girl is my own granddaughter, she is doomed by the Old Gods to cast her monstrous magic at least once a day, or she will explode herself and die." said father while he closed his eyes. "Despite what everyone else said about Northmen being drunkards that spend their money on dressing up The Night's Watch, I knew my daughter, and she would not lie at a matter this magnitude, especially concerning the girl she cherished the most."

"For Magic is abomination in the eyes of The Seven, but highly regarded in both the religions of The Old Gods and The Drowned God." said the Old Septon solemnly. "The Seven did not deny the existence of powers beyond human perception, but also prescribe faith and prayers as our shield against the unnatural, for they are works of the Demons set to weaken the faith of men."

Well, I think of all the Seven bullshits that used by Septons and Septas to fill the head of less smart people at the first place, prescribe faith and prayers for basically everything. Talk about uncreative cure-it-all prescription, just add fasting to round them up. No offense to the Seven, I just found their clergy being uncreative, that's all.

"This is where things concern my family the most, Septon Osmynd. I did not know what the hell those Starks are thinking about. Sure, most people south of The Neck only thought the these as drunken ramblings of Tree-Worshipers, but how long it would last until someone read 'Thou shalt not suffer a sorcerer to live', 'For Magic, Sorcery, and Witchcraft are abominations unto The Seven: and because of these abominations The Seven drive them out from before thee' in the Seven-Pointed Star and decide to try murder my granddaughter, and thus spark a war between the followers of the Old Gods and the followers of The Seven." father sighed before pointing toward a section on Cat's letter. "And the very same three namedays old granddaughter of mine openly claimed The Seven as Demons."

"..." silence reigned in this room, as the Old Septon looking at the transcription provided by father, and I could see the Old Septon's face become twisted in sadness after he read all the particular part. Oh please, that was obviously the punchline of this joke dammit, whatever Cat is actually piss drunk when she writes this, or she deliberately included to mess with father's head, it is actually quite funny.

"This is not what was said in..." stuttered the Old Septon while sporting an uncomfortable frown. "I understand this is just a rambling of a babe barely able to speak, even as this is an utter blasphemy against The Seven, but... Your daughter must be in such distress learning that her child turned out to be not only insane, but outright abomination in the eyes of The Seven."

I rolled my eyes as the other three men in this room muttered the short prayer asking for Mother's forgiveness.

"My daughter told me that her husband suppressed this particular information from coming out and sworn every servant and men-at-arms of Winterfell who overheard that particular claim, to never reveal this information under any circumstances, apparently he is smart enough to realize that his daughter's words could be the cause of war against The North. But my granddaughter, is ultimately just a three namedays old girl, and whatever mad visions she received from either the Old Gods or Seven forbid, Demons, she is very likely to blurt out things by herself in the first place. And this will count as double the risk if her claim about magical prowess being true."

"To be honest Lord Hoster, as long as King Robert sits on the Iron Throne, while order is being maintained in the realm, even if the claim of your granddaughter's magical powers was true, her slander about The Seven will likely be deemed just as an insane rambling of an Old Gods' fanatic. Yes it may result in some of the more Zealous of the Faith wanting to get rid of her, but the risk of it blowing into all out war is rather low. It is well-known that King Robert himself flaunt the laws of The Seven with all his open whoring, and likely will not do anything against whatever the Starks do at their home." said the Old Septon.

That's right Old Septon, the King did not give a shit about religion other than giving lip services. Even if this is all true, the North would be safe as long as they never attacked the South first, and we all know, no matter how delusional he could be, that Eddard Stark is actually a very kind and honorable man.

"As long as she did not pursue a Southren match, she would be fine." Maester Vyman added to the discussion. "Although that would obviously limit her match to The North or Seven forbid, Iron Isles."

Well, that particular match-and-match game again, it was bad enough that Father had ended hypocritically forcing Lysa to abort her bastard when she said she would raise it and accept the shame before giving her to the old coot Jon Arryn. No wonder why uncle Brynden is happy when he could get away from Riverrun.

"My daughter Catelyn's greatest concern however, is if her daughter one day forget to cast her explosion, and thus explode and die herself."

"The Magic often coming with a price my lord. The more powerful said magic is, the price would be far more terrible." said the Old Septon softly. "This is why the pursuit of the lore of magic is treated as grave sin in the eyes of The Seven. If the reports of the explosions were true, I am sorry to say this Lord Hoster, but your granddaughter Arya Stark is not only a living magical siege weapon but also a very big liability for self-destruction shall she prove to be actually not in control of her powers at the first place."

"This is what I feared Septon Osmynd. Catelyn pleads to me to help to search for cure for her daughter's condition, before it grew worse. It could be said that whoever gifted her with such terrible magic at the first place deliberately told her The Seven are Demons to make her avoid the cure." said my father while sat down on his seat from exhaustion. "For she often invoked blackness, darkness, chaos, and destruction in her spells, a very disturbing parallel with what is written about Demonic spells to have invoked in The Seven-Pointed Star."

Here we go again, both sides of The Seven worshipers and the Old Gods pointing fingers to each other while claiming everyone else as demons. Why not just accept that both of them are equally nuts, and try to find which one gives the most advantages first? After all, even here at Riverrun, we still have Godswoods with Weirwood Heart Tree inside, ostensibly to cater for some Lords that still follows the Old Gods, but also being a nice garden to lounge and sleep within.

"Before doing rash thing my lord, I suggest we somehow verify about the sheer reality of said Magic. We should arrange someone we completely trust to go to the North in your name, ostensibly to do some Lordly business regarding trades or something, but also to try witness the reality of explosions around Winterfell. The stories about how Northmen watched and cheered Arya Stark casting her magic is indeed too absurdly fantastic to be true." said Maester Vyman.

"And if my niece's magic is really true, why not we convert to the Old Gods ourselves?" I mindlessly blurt out the first thing that cross my mind. "Oh well, don't look at me like that, but if Arya's magic is true, that would be a neat thing to have in our family as well. I would gladly blast something every day if I could do that..."

Silence reign in this room once again and after a time, I chuckled nervously.

"But that would be neat for battles right? I... I... Wait, I'm just jesting! Obviously jesting!"

...

Long story short, I did not eat lunch or put anything in my mouth or even step out of my chamber for the rest of the day. Father locked me inside and told me in no uncertain terms, that I would not be allowed to get out of my room before I finished transcribing the prayer for judgment of The Father, forgiveness of The Mother, and wisdom of The Crone. All must be transcribed seven times on a pile of parchment and I would give half of my allowance this month for alms to the poor.

Not including father slaps me several times that actually hides the former slap mark I got in my dream earlier. I winced as I continued to mindlessly transcribe the prayer for wisdom of The Crone inside my chamber, alone.

Before I could think more about it, I suddenly heard a girl's voice coming from behind me. "I could prove that The Seven are really Demons, Fish-NEET."

"Who is there?" I said while looking toward the back of my chair, and I see no one there, except the painting of blue haired girl hanging above the dresser, looking seductively at me while showing too much of her ass. I swear that for a moment the girl inside the painting seems to wink at me. "Am I going as mad as Cat right now?" I said while taking closer look to the painting apparently drawn by the Insane Greyjoy, but then I could found nothing unusual.

So I returned to finish the writing my father demanded, in an effort to be able to get out of this damned chamber and get some water, my throat is parched enough for all of a sudden fast, and father is cruel enough to have guards search my room first for any hidden stash of wine, which they found under my bed and above the dresser, said wine end up graciously given by my father to their finders, as I only have an empty skin of water left near the longbow I used to hunt with.

"You must be thirsty." said the mysterious girl voice again, and I look at the painting again. By the Seven, why father doing this to me? I don't know if I could withstand all these delusions for long. Should I start frantically knocking at my door and claimed there is a ghost in my room? "You could bring the empty skin under my most beauteous holy portrait and pray to the Drowned Goddess Aqua for her blessing, she would bring you pure water as the proof of her miracle."

Alright, it seems that whatever is inside this painting started to turning me insane. Drowned Goddess? Just like that Insane Blue Squid claimed?

I am very thirsty though, and there is nothing to lose anyway if I tried to pray toward the girl inside this painting. She is such a beautiful Goddess anyway. Well ghost, I like your sense of joke.

So I grabbed my empty waterskin and place it under said painting, then without even closing my eyes, I quickly muttered something resembling a prayer, I am very curious of what would happen after all, perhaps this is just my own delusion?

"Oh the beauteous Drowned Goddess Aqua please fill this waterskin with water and soothe my parched throat!"

And before my eyes, I see that waterskin started to gradually grew as if something is formed inside it, and after it stopped, I knew that maybe, just maybe... I should frantically knock the door and bring that painting for Septon Osmynd to be exorcised. But then something piqued my interest, what if this Drowned Goddess were real, and thus the Old Gods worshiped by Northmen is also real?

I opened the waterskin and found, to my surprise, that the inside is indeed filled with water. As my throat demands it, I quickly took it to my mouth and eagerly drink the refreshing pure water inside.

"Not saying thanks for my generosity aren't you Fish-NEET?"

"Thank you for the water... Drowned Goddess Aqua. Wait, what is a Fish-NEET? Did you refer to my house sigil or..."

"..."

"Drowned Goddess?" I tried to speak to the painting, but I found it to be turned into just the usual painting of the blue haired girl once again. I then looked at the waterskin, and found it still half-filled with water.

I scratched my head while thinking, what the fuck did I just do? My father punishes me for speaking against The Seven and I end up having vision from that Drowned Goddess inside of that painting?

Wait, doesn't that mean she is actually the same girl who slapped me in my dream as well?

Oh well, I am still hungry though, so I focused on finishing up the task because sooner or later, my father and Old Septon Osmynd would definitely check my progress and judge if I deserve to eat dinner or not.

Oh joy, what a day.


	8. PART 8 : EDMURE

**PART 8 : EDMURE TULLY**

 **Riverrun, 289 AC**

It was night already when my father and Old Septon Osmynd come into my chamber. They decided that I have worked for my penitence enough, so I could eat a piece of plain white bread and a glass of warm milk for my dinner. After I finished my meager meal, father told me to follow the Old Septon into the Sept to pray to The Mother for forgiveness of my transgression. I literally had no choice in this matter.

I glanced to the Goddess in the painting above my dresser, and I felt as if she just smiled at me with understanding at her face. I wanted to just demonstrate to my father and Old Septon Osmynd that here, this magic turned out to be real, so the other magic may be real too, and with this solid proof of the existence of another Gods, just let my niece practice her magic in peace. But at the same time, I also have a feeling that any rash action on behalf of myself would just end up in said Goddess being exorcised, the painting would be burned, and I will get additional penitence for false idolatry. I did not want to lose the sight of her divine beauty, after all.

After the lighting of candles, the hymns, and the overly fucking long prayer finally ended. I tried to just walk my way back into my chamber before the Old Septon placed his hand upon my shoulder.

"Young lord, it is normal to have doubt about The Seven after all the disturbing news that befall upon your sister and her family." said the Old Septon with a slight smile on his face. "Doubt is something almost every person experiences at some point of their life."

"It is not what you think Septon Osmynd. Just let me sleep, I promise to not sin a..."

"I knew you and your sisters since you were children, lord Edmure." the Old Septon smiled while motioning for me to sit at the nearby chair. "I would not say that I have done a good job, for I am a flawed man and I too have my own moments of doubt."

I closed my eyes and remembered everything that happened in my family. I never really knew my mother as she died when I was barely two namedays old babe. My childhood is rather good, but everything was shattered after father almost killed Lysa by forcing her to drink the tansy tea as she plead on her belly for The Mother's font of mercy. Having watched as Catelyn cried all day long when her betrothed left her suddenly to pursue Rhaegar which ended rather badly for the Starks. Afterwards I watched Lysa cry during her forced wedding with the old coot Jon Arryn. I watched my uncle leaving Riverrun and never come back after a great spat with father concerning his treatment of Lysa.

"Is there something you'd like to get off your mind? You could share with me." said the Old Septon with his smile that used to give me a sense of serenity, but why the very same smile today seems insidious as I remembered the face of the Goddess in the painting? Is it true that The Seven are actually Demons and Old Septon Osmynd here is one of the evil, corrupt clerics who secretly knew the truth?

I looked again at the face of the Old Septon and found his smile to be the same smile that brought calmness into my heart, just like when I was nothing but a small boy, frightened while waiting father and uncle to come back from the war. But as if something tried to warn me, the image of the Drowned Goddess flashed in my mind and I remembered the miracle she performed in front of my very eyes, and Old Septon's smile turned insidious again.

"..." I speak nothing as I rubbed my eyes. I could swear that after a while, the Old Septon looks at me with concern in his eyes.

"Young lord, are you tired?" said the Old Septon, but I shake my head, I feel as if I must talk something to him, but at the same time, I feel if my question will only land me on further penitence and punishments.

"May I ask you something, Septon Osmynd? But promise me first it would not lead into more penitence and punishments."

"Of course young lord, I promise. Inquisitiveness and questioning are inevitable parts of the life of faith." said the Old Septon softly. "Your lord father is the one who insisted that your earlier transgression was to be punished first instead of us having a discussion about faith."

Oh joy, my father is in his foul mood again, no wondering.

"What is bad with Arya having magical powers at the first place?" I questioned him the first thing that comes across my mind before quickly added to avoid the Old Septon just giving me the short answer. "And don't just tell me 'for magic is abomination in the eyes of The Seven'. I want full answer."

"Young lord, that is the short answer, but indeed, there are reasons behind why The Seven forbids the unnatural. Sorcery is a sword without a hilt. There is no safe way to grasp it. Your niece was forced to cast her magic everyday, or she will die, such is the terrible cost exacted by magic." said the Old Septon while looking towards the statue of The Father. "And she is just a three namedays old babe, what kind of Gods placed such a curse upon a small child, but insane, uncaring ones?"

Oh here we go again, literal demonizing of other Gods that are not The Seven. Calling the Old Gods insane and uncaring eh? You think you can fool me, Old Septon?

So I sighed and replied, "From what Catelyn said in her letters, it could be implied that somehow, Lord Stark was confident in his ability to contain and control such talent of magic. A simple thing, really, just get Arya to blast an empty field every day after day and it counts as regular entertainment for the Northmen too. It can't be that bad."

"What if your niece was sick and cannot be moved out from her bed?" said the Old Septon while looking back at me as if I was the one who cannot think for myself. "What if she was incapacitated and or trapped in a place filled with people that cannot be crossed before a day passed? Simple logic, really."

Somehow I agree with the Old Septon's logic, but then the image of the Drowned Goddess flash again in my mind, saying something about how Arya would be fine even if she missed her daily magic, as the Old Gods cared about their worshipers.

"What if the Old Gods were real and simply understood her condition? Waiving her ritual for some days because she literally can't do it?"

"The Faith never denied the existence of the Old Gods, or the other Gods for that matter, primordial Gods do exist, but they are insane and often uncaring towards their worshipers, for human lives are like candle flames, easily snuffed out by errant winds. For they warred amongst themselves while letting their followers suffer between their conflicts. The Seven appeared at the end of The War of The Gods to stop their madness and bring their followers, the Andals, to the promised kingdoms of the West, where the mad, uncaring Gods wage their war amongst themselves. The mad Gods armed their followers with magic that caused many calamities in the World, while the Andals must rely only on their cold steel and their faith."

"Isn't that because the First Men only have inferior weapons against iron and steel?"

"That was what the Maesters said, but as according to The Faith, the invasion is not a straightforward business. Many faithful men perished, but they pressed on with their Faith and Seven-Pointed Star to dispel the magic of the other Gods. Many kinds of terrors were faced by the faithful. Terror of the skinwalkers that hide and preyed amongst men. Blood crazed warriors that revived themselves every time their dead fall in water. Howling storm that tossed men aside like a pile of dry leaves. Undead monstrosities made of frozen corpses led by pale-white monster made of ice. Demons made of shadows led by Demons made of fire and light. Inhuman warriors who perished under the sun but were invincible under the cover of darkness who served their horned master hidden in the pillar of stone. And those are just what faced by the Andals during their exodus under the command of The Seven." droned the Old Septon, while my face frowned in boredom out of yet another recital of the ridiculous verses of Seven-Pointed Stars. "The Andals stopped the followers of the mad Gods from breaking the world, and for their uncaring nature, The Seven denounce the rest of the Gods as Demons because there are indeed Demons hidden amongst the mad primordial Gods."

"So basically The Seven themselves did not know which is which." I said in a rather smug tone while I could somehow imagine the image of the Drowned Goddess in my mind nods in appreciation. "That was rather... please don't give me anymore penitence... stupid reasons for denouncing everything that was not coming from The Seven as Demons."

"But both Demons and primordial Gods did not care about humans, young lord." said Old Septon with a smile. "This is why the Faith of The Seven is different, for it was Faith that is our shield. For the great divide separating belief and unbelief reduces down to one simple question; 'Do you have the Faith in your heart?' ; For Faith is trust, assurance, and confidence in The Seven. The Faith is the armor of the soul against the predation of Demons and the uncaring Gods."

"So what would The Seven do to those who practice magic?" I decided to just ask and get off because it is boring already, and I literally need to sleep right now.

"If they are willing to accept The Faith of The Seven in their heart, The Seven would erase the stain of magic from their very soul, judging while forgiving at the same time. It will require repentance, but for The Mother is merciful, it need not end in death." said the Old Septon calmly.

"But what if they are literally not willing to accept The Faith?" Arya Stark is clearly follower of the Old Gods, after all of this.

"Even before the Targaryen unification, there are certain treaties concerning tolerance between religions, treated as politics more than pure faith. In the old days, when The Faith Militant still had authority over worldly matters, magic users captured by The Faith were be given two choices, accept The Faith and leave their dangerous magic, or die on the stake as sorcerers. But as often as it was, things could also be decided by Lords reigning over them, there are some mentions about Lords who while paid lip service to The Faith, still keeping magic users in their ranks."

"In short, it falls upon politics once more, right?" Well it seems that I have touched the blunt end of the Old Septon's overly long arguments and unnecessary exposition of the history according to The Faith of The Seven.

"Basically yes, as we are bound on Oath to obey our liege Lords, and our liege Lords themselves are bound to Oaths to keep the peace and protect their vassals. For all religions have the sacred law against oathbreaking and betraying the guest. These come again to the universal rule of Trust, Honor, and Hospitality."

Time to drop the thing that would shut up this Old Septon then; "Then tell me, what if, for some reason, Arya Stark is here? What will you do to her?"

"I would try to counsel and persuade her to look from the other side of her powers, try to appeal to her love of her own family and how she will literally risk their death as long as she did not give up her dangerous gift from The Old Gods." said the Old Septon.

"But as we all knew, she is a follower of The Old Gods. What if the Old Gods refuse to..."

"Power over the supernatural stems from belief, young lord. If she accepts The Faith in her heart, the Old Gods could not do anything over her. And that is if, a big if, her powers originated from The Old Gods at the first place."

Well, this Old Septon apparently has his answer, so I pressed on... "The Northmen would then never accept her as she would be an apostate towards the Old Gods."

"In that case, she would be welcomed here, as she is of your blood, your own kin. Providing shelter to them is a sacred duty after all."

Alright, I think this is enough, and for somewhat reasons I feel as if I wanted to bring the matter of said painting of The Drowned Goddess upon this Old Septon. But for some reasons, I feel as if the Septon's smile turned insidious again, and I decide to just go to my chamber to sleep. All the talk of Faith is tiresome, honestly.

"Good Night, Old Septon Osmynd." I said while politely bow toward the Old Septon, and he replies with the same gesture.

"May you found peace in the light of The Seven, young lord." said the Old Septon.

"..."

And back to my chamber, I closed the door, closed the window, and decide to look toward the painting of The Drowned Goddess. I knelt in front of my dresser and muttered a prayer towards her image.

"Oh the beauteous Drowned Goddess Aqua, may I ask you something about my niece?"

The painting now glows as if there is something divine within, and I could see the flash of the Drowned Goddess within my eyes.

"Do not worry about your niece Fish-NEET, for she is one who walked the path of explosions." said the Drowned Goddess with a calming smile in her face. "I knew your worries within your heart. She will not die because of forgetting some days of her daily rituals. Megu... Arya Stark is under the protection of us, The Old Gods."

Wait, she is the one of the Old Gods? Huh? "Wait, so you are one of the Old Gods as well? But why the Ironborn..."

"Long story Fish-NEET, the mystery would be revealed to you later. For what is dead may never die, but rises again harder and stronger. The current generation of Ironborn has been literally lost without the guidance of m... mine, but they still held true to the tenets of my fa... my faith in their heart. They just get confused about my gender." said the Drowned Goddess, and for a while, I could see some drops of water falls from her forehead. Must be saying something about the Ironborn that their deity ends up uncomfortable talking about them then.

"Why are you keeping calling me 'Fish-NEET'?" I am genuinely curious about her particular call for myself.

"..."

"Drowned Goddess?" I thought the Drowned Goddess just has drops of water falls from her forehead again, maybe something holy or magical?

"That is your true name, so to speak. Your sigil is a fish, and you are a NEET, thus Fish-NEET."

"What is a NEET?"

"It is one of my mysteries, Fish-NEET." said the Drowned Goddess while her calming divine smile returned. "Now enough of your talking, tomorrow you will find my priest, prophet of Aqua, you just need to keep your belief in me and I will guide you in your path to find Darkness."

"By your priest, did you mean The Insane Blue Squid? Why did he wear blue robe, dyed his hair and beard blue as well?"

"For blue is the holy color of my Priesthood, Fish-NEET. Stop questioning things and just believe in me, The Seven-Faced Demon never talked to you like this, right?" said the Drowned Goddess and I could see logic in her wisdom. The Seven never talked to me so personally like this after all. It was an entirely divine experience compared to talking with Septons or Septas.

"Of course the beauteous Drowned Goddess." I said softly while wanting to curse The Seven-Faced Demon who had deceived me all of my life. "All that The Seven does is spewing bullshit out of their Septons and Septas."

"Good, for what is dead may never die, but rises again harder and stronger." said the Drowned Goddess while an ethereal hand touched my face. "Now my faithful follower, I will teach you the other Holy Words that will help you avoid demonic temptations of The Seven, recite them together with me." said the Drowned Goddess and I follow her lead.

* The Father is a bald cueball

* The Mother is a fat ass

* The Warrior wets his pants

* The Maiden wears pads

* The Crone has saggy breasts

* The Smith could not read

* The Stranger is a shut-in-N...

"Pardon? What is the last Holy Words against the Stranger?"

"The Stranger is a shut-in"

"Oh."

"Next time you feel that you are being led astray by an aspect of The Seven, chant the appropriate words. If you know anyone else were tempted by the Seven-Faced Demon, you can share these words with them too." said The Drowned Goddess while her ethereal hand returned into the painting. "You will need that in your journey to find Darkness."

"Alright... find... Darkness..." I started to feel elated about the task The Drowned Goddess has given upon me.

"As I have granted Aeron Greyjoy a small part of my powers in healing and muse of arts, I have granted you a small part of my powers as well, you now have the powers to create and doing neat party tricks with water, try it."

Huh, now I have my own magical powers? I beamed from side to side before reflexively raise my hand to the side and willed myself to create water as the Drowned Goddess ordered. Much to my own surprise, from my hands flows a torrent of water... shot directly onto my bed. "Uh... oops...?"

"Puu! Kusu kusu kusu!" laughed the Drowned Goddess at how I accidentally wet my bed with magical water.

"Oh the beauteous Drowned Goddess Aqua, how to dry the water... will they..." I tried to communicate with the Drowned Goddess again, but what I see is just the painting of her.

I look back toward my bed and yes, my bed is definitely soaked wet.

"Why does Arya get the most useful power by whoever Old God that gave her magical power at the first place, and the Drowned Goddess gave me such a lame kind of power anyway?" I said to no one in particular.

Should I started to dye my hair blue and wearing blue clothing too as well? But that would be kind of very obvious thing that will alarm everyone inside Riverrun if I done that, so I decided not to. Perhaps the dress code is specific only for the Priest of the Drowned Goddess and I did not feel myself as a priest or anything like that.

I opened my window and tried to will water to stream out from my hand, and I successfully replicate my previous magical feat. So magic is really real now.

Wait, why did the Drowned Goddess give me magical power at the first place? What is the purpose? And the most pressing concern, how to deal with my bed that is soaked wet while I did not sleep upon it yet?

By the Seven Hells, what the others will say tomorrow?

I decided to simply sleep on the floor tonight. Good Night.

...

I hate my dumb luck sometimes.

After a simple breakfast at the Dining Hall, I looked around the corridor and servants immediately scampered off in fear when they see the frown in my face. Of course, this morning everyone in Riverrun laughed about how 'young lord Edmure wets his bed'. Naturally, they said nothing in front of my face, but you know the drill. But today was not their fault, to be honest, just my dumb luck in magic.

Let's be honest here, I did not know what to do with the water magic given unto myself by the Drowned Goddess. Already tried again this morning while bathing and I could confirm that what I could currently do with water magic is simply shoots torrents of water, while the party tricks that Drowned Goddess mentioned before is simply creating sprouts of water with blinking lights and magical rainbow floating on top of it. Having read the Rhoynar water magic and this magic is simply too lame to be compared with 'watery walls that would rise to drown any foe' written in history.

I walked mindlessly until somehow I arrived at the Godswoods. Thinking about the very fact that The Old Gods are real and the Drowned Goddess claimed to be one, I decided to at least do the sensible thing and paid a silent respect to the Heart Tree. I touched the slender weirwood carved with sad face while silently muttered my thanks to the Old Gods. Oh well, nothing happened other than some rustle of leaves, but I do feel the calming effect described by Brandon Stark several years ago when he first arrived at Riverrun.

To my surprise though, speaking of the devil, across the Godswoods from the inside of the Great Hall, Old Septon Osmynd is looking at me placing my hand to the Weirwood tree.

I decide to simply ignore him and pretending if nothing is amiss by simply standing and pretending to just look around with my hand resting on the Weirwood. But the Old Septon end up walking into the Godswoods directly at me as if he wanted to talk about something, ignoring him this time will only create more questions, so...

"Young lord, you've been worrying about your niece, am I correct?" said the Old Septon.

I mulled my mind for answer that will cause this damned Old Septon to go away quickly, and decide to just go with the flow.

"... Yes."

"Are you attempting to plead about your niece to The Old Gods, young lord? While your intent might be noble, this is not..."

"This is not what you think Septon, I just loafing around, go away..." I tried to just being my usual irritated self. "Go away..."

"I would not normally mind you lounge at the Godswoods, young lord. It was just a garden to us, the faithful." said the Old Septon solemnly. "But considering what you said yesterday, about magic existence and the Old Gods, you should not be here young lord. You might fall into temptations..."

"Shut up Old Septon!" I said in irritation. "Go away!"

The damned Old Septon seems to understand that I am in a particularly bad mood right now, and decides to walk back to the Great Hall. But much to my irritation, he still managed to say "May The Crone bless you with wisdom."

Godsdammit Old Septon, The Crone has saggy tits.

And much to my surprise, the previously sad face of the weirwood seems to curl up into smile as if it heard my thought about The Crone's tits. I blinked my eyes and realizing that my hand is still touching the Weirwood, and the carved face already returned to the previous sad one.

Well, that's weird, but not that unexpected because the Drowned Goddess herself told me that The Old Gods exist. I decide to mutter a silent prayer about the well-being of my niece Arya to the Weirwood tree before leaving the Godswoods toward the training ground.

To think that just in two days, I end up getting in touch with not only The Drowned Goddess, but also maybe another Old Gods when I touched The Heart Tree. All while The Seven never even bothered to talk to me at the first place. Oh well, they are Demons, just like The Drowned Goddess said. As long as I kept the Holy Words regarding the demonic temptations of The Seven-Faced Demon, they have no power over me as their faith is obviously wrong.

...

After getting my daily workout to vent out my emotions, as well as lounging around barrack to wander rather aimlessly until lunchtime, I decided to simply walk back into my chamber still wearing my mailed armor under my blue and red cloak. The chuckles from inside my chamber indicate that there are some servants here, cleaning up my room and presumably took care of my wet bed that should already dried under the sun. I entered my chamber and suddenly they stop chuckling around and return to what is presumably their job.

And soon I notice that the painting of The Drowned Goddess that I hang upon my dresser is missing.

"Did someone take the painting hanging on top of my dresser?" I asked to the servants present in my room.

"Maester Vyman and Septon Osmynd came here earlier, they took the painting before they go toward the Sept, young lord." a servant said before continue mopping the floor. Oh shit, how did they know about the painting of the Drowned Goddess?

I panicked and quickly run towards the Sept. As I enter the Sept, I could see the painting of The Drowned Goddess burning in front of the Statue of The Father, and it already burned to black to the point that the Image of The Drowned Goddess is barely recognizable. Old Septon Osmynd is praying with seven-sided crystal and an incense stick at his hands while Maester Vyman looks at me.

"Where did that painting come from, young lord?" Questioned Maester Vyman as if I stole something from his Maester's Keep.

"T... that..." I stuttered while trying to look for a believable reason. Oh well, the Drowned Goddess has rather scandalous clothing, so. "I got that from a trader... she has nice ass, so..."

"That painting is heavily laden with magic, young lord." said Maester Vyman softly. "For glass candle burns without being ignited near it."

"I don't know anything..." I tried to wiggle my way out, maybe I should just claim I got them from a whorehouse instead? "Why would you bring a glass candle inside my chamber anyway Maester?"

"I just happened to carry one outside of your chamber when it suddenly burns with blue flame. I called Septon Osmynd, and we notice this particular painting must have something to do with the sudden ignition of the glass candle."

"But how did you know? I admit that the girl inside the painting has rather inappropriate dress and posture, but that was just..." As I walked toward Maester Vyman and The Old Septon, trying to at least wiggle my way out by claiming that was just simple erotic painting, suddenly the incense stick held at the Old Septon's hand flared brightly.

"Young lord, watch out, there are magic user here!" Old Septon suddenly opened his eyes and clutching the seven sided crystal tighter in his hand before suddenly he looked at me as I am a monster and shout using all his might. "IN THE NAME OF THE SEVEN! I CAST YOU OUT FROM LORD EDMURE'S BODY! UNCLEAN SPIRIT! ALONG WITH EVERY DEMONIC POWERS OF THE ENEMY, EVERY SPECTRE FROM HELL, AND ALL YOUR FELL COMPANIONS! IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER! THE WARRIOR! AND THE CRONE! BEGONE!"

As if on cue however, the burned portrait of the Drowned Goddess suddenly releases a huge torrent of water toward the Old Septon, throwing him to wall, and after that doing the same thing toward Maester Vyman who knocked out onto the Statue of The Smith, and just as sudden turned into dust while I could see all the Seven Statues of this Sept suddenly has glowing white eyes. I could hear guards started to run over the ruckus inside this Sept. Oh well, I do not want to imagine how angry my father would be if he knows about this particular painting actually belongs to an Ironborn Goddess, and the seven pair of seemingly demonic eyes made me nervous as if they see directly into my soul, so I decided just run the hell out of the Sept toward my chamber.

The Servants there just watch in confusion as I grabbed my pouch with whatever left of my allowance this month. In a very quick succession, I slung my sword belt across my waist, frantically grab some clean clothes from inside of my wardrobe chest putting them inside a drawstring bag that would then slung across my shoulder, lastly, I grabbed my longbow case and run as fast as I can towards the Stable.

Using the confusion that still focused on the Sept, I managed to grab a horse and ride it toward the opened Western Gate.

"Young lord Edmure! Lord Hoster said you are not to leave!" said a guard whose duty is guarding the Western gate while there are six other guards already bar my escape route with their spears crossed. Trying to directly run across seven guards is something that is impossible, and for a moment, I think maybe it would be better for me to just stop and explain everything to my father, but then I was very afraid of what would the Seven-Faced Demons do when I would be inevitably dragged into the Sept for exorcism, so...

"CREATE WATER!" I tried to recall the magic given unto me by the Drowned Goddess Aqua, and as I swiped my hand across, I lashed a torrent of water that is strong enough to knock all the seven guards in one sweep, all fallen into the dry ditch.

I heard another group of guards running toward my position led by Ser Robin Ryger himself. And some of the guards that I knocked earlier with water started to climb up the ditch. I literally have no choice here. So I whipped riding crop and forced my horse to run across the ditch.

Much to my surprise, however, somewhere along the road coming from the Western Gate, I see that blue haired, blue cloaked Insane Greyjoy already awaits me, already riding on top of a horse with saddlebags and carrying a white staff at his hand.

"For what is dead may never die! In the name of The Drowned Goddess, we shall run together and find Darkness!" said the Insane Blue Squid who quickly run his horse alongside my own. I rolled my eyes at all his theatrics but keep running straight to the West.

Today I run away from Riverrun, and I don't fucking know the aim of this other than the vague command of 'Find Darkness'.

My adventure here just fucking started.


	9. PART 9 : EDMURE

**PART 9 : EDMURE TULLY**

 **Along the Tumblestoone River, 289 AC**

We ride for a full day straight to the West, evading riders in my house colors while stopping every now and then to take refuge inside hedges along the river Tumblestone.

Willow Wood is near, but we can't exactly get in and seek refuge there even if I am friendly with most of them. Having seen riders in Tully colors entering the settlement, offering rewards for anyone who could brought me back to Riverrun in relatively good condition. And I only have two golden dragons, twelve silver stags, and six copper pennies anyway, while enough for staying at inns for some days if required is not enough for bribing people around when they inevitably found me.

The sun already dip low in the horizon as we slowly trot up our horses along the Tumblestone, still following the river road from some distance away. With no other people within our sight, we picked a secluded place for the night, preferably having nice, comfortable selection of hedges for us to sleep.

After we tied up our horses at the secluded portion of the trees, I fall down upon the hedge with exhaustion. Aeron is apparently not as exhausted however, as he only sits down cross-legged while looking toward the River.

I decided to break the silence between us, "I still can't believe to be actually running away from my home and turned into a fugitive hedge knight like this."

"For the call of The Drowned Goddess knows us, for we are her chosen Heralds against the Seven-Faced Demons." Aeron chuckled, "I never thought much of The Drowned Goddess before, back when I still thought her as the Drowned God. But then I drowned, and she appeared in my drowning vision, just like the old drowned men said. For her hand reach unto me and saves me from certain death."

"Yes, you drowned at the Battle of Fair Isle." I stated out the fact and Aeron confirms it with a nod. "The very fact that you survived carried away by currents to place as far as Seagard is a miracle in itself."

"I drowned when my ship, The Golden Storm, was sunk by the Royal Fleet. I used to think that I would go into the watery hall of the Drowned God, and will at least have mermaids being my companions. But then, as I drowned, I thought it would be nice if the Drowned God is actually a beautiful Goddess instead, so I could see her divine beauty for all eternity." Aeron smiled while remembering his own drowned dream. "To my surprise, I end up awaken on a deathly cold field of snow, and as I laid my eyes upon the vision of her divinity, I knew she is the real Drowned Goddess."

"Wait, you said you awaken on snow? You're washed at Seagard, remember?" I laughed nervously while remembering the time I met my most Beauteous Drowned Goddess Aqua, as I also dreamed of a field of snow covered plain.

"There is reason why the Drowned Goddess reached unto us, Fish." said Aeron in serious tone. "She need our help to Find Darkness, unite Darkness with Destruction and Hiki-NEET that would be known by Darkness itself, as the combination of Darkness and Destruction will free her full power from being sealed in the Land beyond The Wall. But we would need to find Darkness first as Destruction and Hiki-NEET is already found by her uncle, The Old God of The Greens."

"She is sealed... Wait, Old God of The Greens is Drowned Goddess' uncle?" I said while also remembering something else. "And something or perhaps, someone called Hiki-NEET?"

"The Drowned Goddess do said that The Old Gods are her family, but something happened in the far past over a familial misunderstanding, and we Ironborn end up separating ourselves with the rest of The First Men. The Drowned Goddess did not explain further on this, but plead for cooperation between her and the surviving Old God is our only hope."

"And about the Hiki-NEET... The Drowned Goddess called me as 'Fish-NEET', and said that the word 'NEET' is one of her mysteries."

"And she called me Squid-NEET." said Aeron with a serious face. "While she said that NEET is one of her mysteries, maybe being NEET is something about being the weapon for The Drowned Goddess?"

"Make sense to me, Squid." I said while getting a divinely inspired understanding that maybe the mysterious NEET word turned out to be title for Drowned Goddess' chosen champions. I feel guilty about doubting her earlier when she attempted to reach and commune with me at Riverrun. "Then it means that we are Her NEETs, her chosen champions."

"... perhaps." I could see Aeron smile when he heard my reasoning. "We need to preserve our strength though, for we did not know where our faith in most Pure and Divine Drowned Goddess will bring us to this Journey."

Ah yes, the annoying minor fact that despite having proof about magic and the Drowned Goddess being very real, very divine, very beautiful deity, we are currently left without any clue on how to find Darkness. "Perhaps what we need is to simply put our faith in the divine design of the Wise Drowned Goddess, and she would guide us in our journey."

"Make sense to me, fish."

"Anyway, why don't you try making another Holy Painting of Her Divine Beauty again? Perhaps that way she could commune and resume contact with us?"

"There is a reason why I fall asleep for two days after I finished that Holy Icon of The Drowned Goddess that would be later given unto you. That painting is created with my magic of arts and it was very taxing upon my magical powers. The Drowned Goddess herself commanded me to only use that power sparingly as hiding a power window from The Night's King and The Great Other's prying eyes is already hard enough."

Ah well, the unfortunate fact that she is currently sealed away by two Demon Kings at the first place. "I feel bad for her, why did the Demon Kings seal her at the first place?"

"The Night's King and The Great Other have joined their forces to bring the Second Long Night. They attacked the Old Gods, already weakened by another Demon King better known as The Seven-Faced Usurper who burned Weirwood Trees and built their accursed Septs upon them. The Old Gods died because Seven-Faced Demons used politics to deprive them of the sacrifices needed to maintain the peak of their powers, barely subsisting on Northmen faith and scattered few below the Neck. Only the Ironborn stay true to keep the Drowned Goddess strong, but apparently we mistook her gender for somewhat reasons, and that in turn, makes her weak enough to be captured by the Two Demon Kings, but still strong enough to resist them."

"So basically this is War of The Gods all over again." I whispered and Aeron look forlornly to the North. "And it was all because that seven damned Seven-Faced Demon."

"You should start to not invoke all the seven obsession the Seven-Faced Demon is so very fond of, for The Father is an ugly bald cueball, The Mother is a fat ass of a whore, The Warrior is backstabbing coward who wets his pants when facing true strength, The Maiden wears pads to hide her ugly flat chest, The Crone has ugly as fuck saggy tits, The Smith is a moron who could not even read, and the Stranger is a Shut-in-NEET who is so pale and inhuman as he never dared to show his face."

"Wait, The Stranger is a Shut-in... NEET?" I am genuinely confused on how such Holy Mystery word of the Drowned Goddess end up mentioned as The Stranger's attribute. "I thought NEET was something..."

"Maybe it was more neutral descriptive term related to death and decay, for we are the NEETs who will bring Death and Decay to the damned Seven-Faced Demon." Aeron raised his fist defiantly.

"Death and decay?" I shuddered at the meaning of this Holy Word of The Drowned Goddess. "But as you know, all I have is some sort of water magic, and you have healing powers instead of something destructive?"

"Maybe you just need to train your magic?" Aeron offered the logical solution. "I was also taken aback on how the Drowned Goddess herself gave you that kind of Magic, as it should be the magic of Ironmen or Rhoynars at the first place. Maybe you are actually a descendant of an Ironborn House far deep in your ancestry?"

I scrunched my face and try to remember all the family history that was written by Maesters from the time Tully family still being just a vassal of someone else. I couldn't remember any mention of either Ironborn or Dornish match in my family, as I scratched my head while rising back to sitting position. "I am not sure, most likely no, but there is chance because Maesters' records are often lost and or jumbled up. Or maybe those are twice removed or more, as in an Ironborn Grandmother giving birth to another House woman, and that other House woman end up married into House Tully, the Maester would not have any incentive writing about the maternal Grandmother, after all."

"But whatever it was based on ancestry, or..."

"Why are you giving me that Holy Icon of The Drowned Goddess to me at the first place? That was literally the thing that caused me to be illuminated with the Truth of The Drowned Goddess, but I am still curious if there is deeper meaning..." I said while remembering the divine beauty of the Drowned Goddess.

"For The Most Wise Drowned Goddess told me to give her Holy Icon unto a romantic, chivalrous young knight belong to a Noble House of high standing to be her Herald against The Seven. I honestly did not really know most of the greenlander houses, so giving it to you is the first thing that crossed my mind."

"What... oh right, perhaps the Drowned Goddess knew my heart's deepest desire to be a chivalrous noble. Romantic, maybe... never thought too much about that before. But I was only barely qualified to be a Knight at the first place, or so my Father said..."

"Have no doubt in yourself, fish." said Aeron with a smile. "And what about me? Before The Drowned Goddess choose me to be her prophet, I am nothing but a source of shame to my family, barely qualified as a captain myself and prefer spending my time partying among ale and women. I was a drunken fool of a man who, even according to the Drowned Goddess herself, a Hentai-Squid who is a pervert who questionably attracted to pee. But that was my past, and as I was dead and reborn at the sea, I sworn an oath to dedicate myself to spread the worship of the Drowned Goddess, to at least open the eyes of my fellow Ironborn that they worship her the wrong way. For what is dead may never die, but rises again harder and stronger."

I smiled at the revelation of this particular Squid's background, so he was a sinner and an useless man in the eyes of Gods and Men, but the Merciful Drowned Goddess, in her infinite wisdom, has chosen us to become her instrument. Something that we are not really worthy of but this is what makes us totally in her debt.

So touched I am by the revelation, I moved to Aeron's hedge to firmly grab his shoulder. "We are brothers in faith, for the Drowned Goddess has chosen us to be her wielder of Magic."

Aeron's eyes become wet with tears, and I feel the same raw emotion welling in my eyes as well.

"Brother!" said Aeron while he pulled a knife and slashed his right palm.

I took the knife from his hand and slashed my right palm as well. "Brother!" I said while we shook our hands.

Now we are brothers in blood. In front of the most Beauteous, Most Pure, and Wise Drowned Goddess, we made our oath of brotherhood.

...

"Anyway that felt nice, but how could we held reins tomorrow? I think I cut my palm too deeply in my emotion..." I said when I realized that the slash in my palm is too deep and already show some bones inside.

"That was an easy thing to heal with magic though." Aeron said while he waved his hand upon the open gash in my palm, and as soon as the glowing blue aura of his hand touched mine, my right palm is completely healed without even a scar.

"Oh wow, so this is how potent the true healing magic are." I said in amazement while looking at my right hand, as pristine as new with unblemished skin and everything that is good.

"Same here." said Aeron while showing me his right hand, which suddenly glow and the opened gash closed itself with magically regenerated flesh and skin.

"So how could we contact the Drowned Goddess for further instruction?"

"Have faith in her, maybe we are already on the right track. We shall go further West."

"Toward the Westerlands? My father's men will never dare to move there unannounced, as Tywin Lannister may took slight upon the perceived transgression. We could shake off my pursuers!"

"Yes, to the Westerlands. I feel as if something awaits us there."

"We just need to ride for some days, and we would cross the Golden Tooth soon. We could pretend we are just hedge knights looking for employment there, as that was something very common in Westerland. We just need to somehow procure armor and weapon for you, other than your staff and dagger, you are woefully under equipped."

"Thank the Wise Drowned Goddess for all her divine design upon us."

"Thank the Beauteous Drowned Goddess for all her blessings upon us."

...


	10. PART 10 : THEON

**PART 10 : THEON / KAZUMA**

 **Winterfell, 289 AC**

Two weeks passed without any notable public events outside of Megumin's daily explosions. And even those explosions stopped being such crowd pulling spectacle after her fifth or sixth one. Sure, some smallfolk still come near Winterfell to watch the free magical fireworks but that's it, not as many gathered compared to the first one.

Yeah, regular explosion every night at the field east of Winterfell, after dinner. No we are not allowed to venture out of Winterfell as according to Lord Stark, we are still too young. Absolutely no venturing outside and doing our previous world routine of 'bakuretsu bakuretsu la la la' here, at least not until Lord Stark deeming Megumin old enough to going out without close adult supervision.

The prearranged time of the explosion is literally after dinner, no explosion allowed before that except in emergency circumstances according to Lord Stark himself.

Megumin could not say anything against his father's logic in placing the prearranged time after dinner, that if she will get exhausted after casting the magic of explosion, she better cast that at night after dinner, so she could be brought to the nursery to sleep afterwards. The rather routine, predictable part of the time also serves as some sort of guarantee to minimize any potential innocent victims wandering into that empty field. There are some measures of quarantine complete with warning signs posted around the field. Having seen them close when I venture out with the boys in a riding lesson, I could see that apparently mushroom cloud is a universal sign of huge explosion everywhere.

At least for Megumin, having Lord Stark permit her one explosion per day is already big enough boon, especially because her mother Lady Stark never really accepts her daily routine at the first place. Lord Stark and Lady Stark definitely has very different opinions upon Megumin's affliction with 'one explosion each day' rule, but at least for now, things are in Lord Stark's favor, and thus working for Megumin's joy.

Lord Stark, and every follower of the Old Gods here, is rather very quick to just accept that as the required drawback of having such powerful magic at a very young age. They apparently understood something that is in line with 'magic come at a cost' so Megumin's explanation about her magical ability being blessing and curse at the same time, end up very easily received. While I could see that even Lord Stark still has some amount of fear by the risk said by Megumin, he simply accepted the risk are being inherent to her ability and already deem the daily routine required exercise of magic, that is.

Lady Stark however, in rather stark contrast (pun intended) compared to her husband, always argued against Megumin continuing her practice of magic, saying that the risk is far too high. Predictably, Megumin turned deaf ear to her plea, so Lady Stark could only cry in the Sept every time Megumin doing her daily explosion routine, clutching a book she refers to 'Seven-Pointed Star' close to her heart.

Demonic religion aside, as far as I could tell, that was obviously a very reasonable response from a mother who has her religion said that magic is abomination and in fear of her daughter's life at the very least. On some levels, I actually respect Lady Stark's thick-headedness, or should we call it as faith (even for Demonic being), because even as other Lords apparently expect her to convert to the Old Gods, she strives to keep The Seven. Lord Stark himself apparently tried to speak some sense with her before, but then Lady Stark apparently said something about she will wait for The Second Long Night to come first before thinking about converting to The Old Gods, and Lord Stark never brought that particular matter anymore.

Of course while I and Megumin know that the true nature The Seven is actually Seven-Faced Demon, and they misled humans to shun and avoid magic for their own nefarious reasons. Lord Stark already told us about the risk of igniting continent-wide religious war if wrong ears happened to hear 'The Seven are Demons'. For while Lady Stark and Septa Mordane did not want the war to erupt at the first place as their homeland of Riverlands would end up literally ravaged and torn in half, just like in the latest war that is Robert's Rebellion, many Southern Lords still seek to curry favor to The Faith, and may be far too eager on the prospect of igniting the wars between First Men and Andals all over again.

Even as The King is Lord Stark's foster brother and closest friend, while current Hand of The King is his own foster father, Royal influence could only go so far when it comes to dealing with The Faith as a whole. For even Aegon the Conqueror bows to The Seven despite having Dragons at his disposal, and even as Maegor the Cruel hamstrung the Faith's powers by removing the Faith Militant, their grip upon the people south of The Neck are still extremely strong.

...

I quickly made friends with the other two boys in this castle, Robb and Jon. I usually refer to them as puppies and turned out that was actually the norm in this world to refer you using the sigil of your House if that was an animal or plant. Of course, Robb and Jon (and others) in return called me Squid and refer to me as Squid ward too. As they are actually younger than me for around a year, they quickly look at me as if I was their cool older brother (and I don't mind that, think them as some sort of manly replacement for Princess Iris).

Having not to hide my magic of Ice and Fire from them helps me pull some nice tricks (but still has to hide them to many others for very obvious reasons). Still limited to just some ice and fire party tricks, that I must reluctantly admit inspired by the Goddess of Party Tricks, Aqua-sama, but those are more than enough to keep the boys entertained.

There are some boring stuffs, and that include Maester Luwin's lessons, which I attend together with Robb and Jon, some medieval equivalent of private tutoring just like back at Pyke.

Still, after eating our breakfast...

"Robb, Jon, what are you two doing here?" I said when I see the two boys poking around kitchen this morning.

"Psst!" Robb put his finger on his mouth, telling me to keep my silence and mentioned me to come to the place he is currently lurking in with Jon, somewhere behind barrels of...

"Beer?" I said when I recognize the smell, and both Robb and Jon nod their heads vigorously.

I felt that I shouldn't let all those little rascals going around drinking something that would cause legal problem back in Japan. Even in the previous realm where I do my adventures with the gang, for most of the time, Megumin is verboten from consuming alcohol in public due to her age (she still sneaks some chugs given by the generous Aqua-sama every now and then).

But the laws of this realm is even more relaxed concerning that, considering we, even children, regularly drink (very diluted) watered wine as apparently even after boiled, water here often smells somewhat stale and thus the unpleasantness needed to be masked by wine. Damn it, this particular thing made me really miss Aqua for all her water purification ability, or maybe I should just starting to experiment on how to make a proper drinking water filter.

"We just have breakfast you know..." I tried to reason with these two puppies who eyed the kegs stacked on top of a big, solid oak table.

"Those cups are placed on place where we can't reach them..." said Robb looking forlornly at the cabinet which hold some wooden tankards used by men to drink those, conveniently placed just at adult height outside the reach of children like us. I could see Jon trying to stack some boxes but it still falls a little short from required; Robb points me to help Jon with that.

I am slightly taller than both of them, but looking at how hap hazardously Jon stacked those boxes on top of a small wooden stool that seems can't really hold all those stacks.

"No Robb."

"Please..."

"Still no."

"Or I'll tell my father that for somewhat reason, we found a smallcloth that could only belongs to a maidservant inexplicably inside your room." said Robb with nasty wolfish grin upon his face.

"I am at your service, partner."

I thought about just climbing that tower-ish thing Jon had made, but then it was built without any sound grasp upon stability. And considering these two boys already knew that I could use magic anyway.

"I'll get them, but will you swear upon the Old Gods to keep this a secret?"

"We swear before the eyes of The Old Gods." said those two rascals, and I smiled. Even as they are children, there is one thing that all the Northmen have, and that is they took anything said under oath very seriously.

"Alright... Steal!" I said while waving my hand, and upon my palm, I already held one wooden tankard before the two puppies.

"Uoooh!" said Robb in awe. "Is that magic?"

"Obviously!" said Jon with happy tears in his eyes! "I wish the Old Gods touched me!"

"Me too!"

Long story short, the beer was nice to drink, we soon felt light-headed, and later on, servants found three little boys lay wasted upon the kitchen floor.

Lord Stark made our ears red from all the pulling and lecture us about how drinking too much is not honorable, or some sort of that stuff since the three of us didn't have the necessary competence to hear properly with all alcohol inside our bloodstream right now. But at least those two rascals keep the secret of my 'steal' ability with Robb telling his father this is all some servant's fault to left three tankards down on the floor.

...

This night, Megumin already had her after dinner explosion. She is currently sleeping on Maester Luwin's back, as we boys walking alongside them. I could only pity the poor Maester, as he is so engrossed in his daily observation of Megumin's explosion magic, that he literally transcribes every chant of her into parchment upon parchment. Megumin naturally never mind that at the first place, deliberately set up her chants to be extremely ambiguous, yet the double meaning is often strictly between us two for us to have a good laugh afterwards. Knowing how Lord Stark practically spoils her most of the time, the big tome full of chuuni bullshit spells will go to be the most treasured book in the library of Winterfell, bound using high quality lizard-lion or shadowcat skin.

Of course, my guilt for partaking in Megumin's chuuni bullshits led me into helping Maester Luwin to carry his parchments, quill, and ink bottle to and from our daily explosion trip. All while saying 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry.' inside my mind for tormenting the Old Maester who only wanted to learn about them, wasting his precious time chasing something that was learned in another realm by a swipe on adventurer card and thus, maybe nigh impossible to learn here. Also, Maester Luwin sometimes asked me to freeze or burn something, before spending his sweet time observing the result. That only add up all my feelings of guilt to put him in a wild goose chase like this, but deep down, I am also afraid that he would glean upon some way to actually learn magical skills from all of our bullshits.

"Well, thank you for always helping me to learn about this Theon." said Maester Luwin with a smile after he gave the sleeping Megumin to Old Nan in front of the nursery. "May I have my parchments back? I want to read them along the way."

"No need to say thanks Maester Luwin; it was my pleasure to help you." I politely hand the parchments for him and as predicted, he started to eagerly devour all the chuuni bullshits written there.

"That explosion was amazing." said Robb while raising his hands to emulate the recent display of the destructive magic. "I wonder if I could simply say the same thing Arya said!"

"You need to be touched by The Old Gods first!" replied Jon while I roll my eyes. Yeah, Maester Luwin aside, these two boys is also very fixated with all things magic.

"My name is Robb of House Stark! The Red Wolf who brought extra doom upon the doomed world! Darkness beyond the dark, having big hot things underneath the hard shell that I highly covet! I brought my jealousy upon thee and summon the sacred Hammer of The Old Gods! EXPLOSION!"

"BOOM!" added Jon while jumping in mimicking the explosion with his hands.

"That was something about volcanic powers." said Maester Luwin with a smile.

I winced as Megumin's latest bullshit chant invoke her desire to have big breasts like Darkness, but for Maester Luwin she *obviously* refers to volcanic powers.

"I could see that she must invoke something about powers of destruction and or something about blackness, darkness, despair, or something like that to power up her spell. Understandable enough for such destructive magic." said Maester Luwin while scratching his beard. "While you on the other hand, either only use the simple words of 'freeze' and 'tinder' or spoke no word at all when performing your magic. According to my observation so far the power of the spell has some relation toward the chant length, but I still not sure about this."

"Different magic from different Gods, Maester Luwin." I politely added while trying not to push the poor Maester deeper into his obsession of learning about magic. All while Robb look at me while making the hand gesture I use when I use steal in front of them, you swear an oath to keep it secret dammit.

"As you might already see, one of the chain links I have is a Valyrian Steel." said Maester Luwin while pointing upon the distinctive rippled chain links in his neck. "That signifies that I had studied the lore of magic. But before the day you've shown your magical prowess, The Citadel thought there are no magic users aside of what was written in history centuries ago."

"Well, that is why it was my pleasure to help you. At least you turned out to be very accepting toward magic instead of going into rant about how magic is abomination like Lady Stark."

"There have been two factions in The Citadel, one who wished for magic to return one day, and one who wished for magic to never return." said Maester Luwin reminiscing his old days at the Citadel, before he was sent to serve Winterfell. "As I learned the lore of magic and forged this chain link, I am proudly belongs to the pro-magic faction of The Citadel."

"But you've said that The Maesters already knew magic has returned somewhere in the recent past, with what you said as glass candles or something."

"Just before the madness of Prince Rhaegar, in which brought ill tidings for House Stark seven years ago." said Maester Luwin sadly. "Two years before the Rebellion, glass candles could be burned again, and it was said that this event is one who triggered the madness that brought down House Targaryen."

"... well, I already knew about that. You told me a week ago in the lessons. For glass candle burning signifies the return of magic, but that was two years before I was even born." I said while mentally noting that maybe, just like what was said by The Demon King we slain in previous realm, that Aqua's coming brought a light upon the magic of that realm, maybe this mean Aqua, due to timey wimey ball that is the afterlife realm of the Gods, actually come two years before I come, and thus Darkness, who should come together with Aqua, is either eight or nine years old.

I don't know why the other Old Gods, who has been mentioned in the afterlife, did not maintain the flow magic on their own before Aqua's coming. Eris-sama has said to me that a God or Goddess has tasked to keeping the flow of magic in their respective world from becoming either clogged (not really know on how freaking magic could be clogged at the first place as Eris-sama never expand upon this) or becoming unstable and overflowed (the later is a very real risk in her world, due to all divine relics left by Aqua's idiocy to sent too many Japanese issekai with cheat items that end up loitering her world with dangerous magical artifacts known in universe as 'Divine Relics'). Eris-sama said this after I realize the true identity of Chris the flat chested chivalrous thief. No worry Eris-sama, I don't mind if they are padded and your ass is still very nice.

"Why is your face looking like that, Theon?" questioned Jon and I quickly close my mouth before drooling over the memories of Eris-sama's / Chris' ass.

"Nothing, I'm just... hungry? Err..."

"We already eat dinner." said Robb.

"Anyway, glass candle. How exactly they work Maester Luwin?" I tried to get back on the topic.

"Glass candle is made of Obsidian, for they could be burned in the presence of magic." said Maester Luwin. "Every Maester has some of them, previously thought only as symbolic item before the return of magic, but then if you concentrate enough to scry within its flame, it was said that it could give you vision."

"And you said something about a group of beings with pale white skin and glowing blue eyes surrounding..." I realize that maybe I should not talk too much about Aqua at this point. Having her locked away would be better for this world, maybe.

"Ah, the riddle of glass candle, the blue haired, blue eyed young woman who dresses like a whore." said Maester Luwin with a smile and I mentally winced. I don't want this kindly old Maester to end up receiving Aqua's divine wrath upon her release. For the Drowned Goddess is petty and will make you suffer if you insult her too much.

"There is a whore inside Glass Candle?" questioned Jon.

"Maybe it was some sort of symbolic vision." said Maester Luwin softly, after all, we Maesters call her and the demons surrounding her as 'riddle of the glass candle', a yet unsolved mystery."

...

After spending some more time walking with the boys, we parted ways with Robb and Jon as I walked with Maester Luwin toward his turret, which is located somewhat far at the west side of Winterfell, but still near enough with my room at the Guest section.

"You said there was anti-magic faction in The Citadel." I said while Maester Luwin closed the door behind us. "What did they do now? Magic has returned, so they should not really exist anymore as skeptics, right?"

"Let me tell you a secret first, but you might already infer about that. I was born in the South, but I never truly believe about The Seven." said Maester Luwin with a smile. "Their anti-magical stance is well known, and many in the Citadel just swallow their teachings without critical mind to question about why The Seven ban the practice of magic at the first place. Their typical reasoning of magic being dangerous, come at a steep cost, and condemn the soul of their users are never fully explored. Sure, in some way, I could see that lady Arya's magic is a very dangerous one to those caught in the explosion, and the requirements of daily casting is the 'steep cost' or so to speak. But as House Stark worship the Old Gods who held magic in high regard, I failed to see how her use of magic condemn her soul at the first place."

I smiled a bit when thinking that Megumin's 'steep cost' is actually her own doing. Now if only she is more cooperative and actually said that she want to do daily 'training' instead of saying that as 'requirement' maybe magic acceptance would be far easier too.

"Your magic of Ice and Fire as well, when properly used, could be a lethal one in a fight. As you could encase the entirety of a door in ice, with enough focus, in a fight you could actually freeze the belly of your opponent solid, which would be instantly incapacitating a person's ability to fight while dooming them into a slow, painful, lingering death, while the application of fire is more straightforward in nature."

"Well Maester Luwin, I think I would keep that as reference for future use." I said while remembering my previous adventure in Eris' realm. With other magic users who could dispel frozen status easily, that would be at best temporary incapacitation, but when thinking about it, in this world without magical dispel being handy for most. Let's say that maybe I would only use that on those really deserves it. "And about the glass candle, may..."

But when I just placed the quill and inkpot on top of Maester Luwin's desk, a raven come bearing a letter sealed with blue-red stripes and a fish on top of it.

"Hmm, a letter from Riverrun? I think I should inform Lord and Lady Stark about this." said Maester Luwin before he later added. "Thank you for your help today, Theon. If you want to have a glass candle, you could take one from inside of that drawer."

...


	11. PART 11 : THEON

**Part 11 : THEON / KAZUMA**

 **Winterfell, 289 AC**

Last night, Maester Luwin let me take a glass candle from the inside of his drawer. That thing turned out to be actually just as their description said, small tube-like thing made of many shards of obsidian weld together by semi translucent green glass. There are two of them, one is as long as the usual candle, and one has been partially burnt leaving only a length of one and a half finger.

Maester Luwin said that back when he swore his oath as a Maester in the Citadel, he was given three of them as he stayed vigil in a completely dark room for a night. Those are Acolyte Glass Candle, which whiles not exactly an easy thing to procure, every Maester started with three and more could be bought from some dragonglass jewelers at Dragonstone or Essos, as Obsidian are mainly used by for jewelry. There is another, rarer version of glass candle fully made from obsidian, coming originally from Valyria but there are three or four known artisans in Essos who could make them for a significant sum of gold.

I am very curious to see for myself this 'riddle of glass candle' and laugh at Aqua's misery, but since I already promised Megumin that we would see and laugh at Aqua's misery together, I decided to take the shorter one before walked back to my room and sleep for the night.

...

"Morning puppies." I said while looking at Robb and Jon already sitting in the Dining Hall, waiting for breakfast.

"Morning squid." said Robb and Jon before I took the seat near Jon, just like usual.

We then eat our breakfast together before going toward the stables for another riding practice. Nothing really notable happened, and as the lesson for this morning ended, we eat our lunch together again at the dining hall. A servant informed us that Maester Luwin cannot give his lessons today, as there are certain important businesses that must be attended with Lord Stark, so we end up with rather extra free time for today.

We tried to look for Megumin at the nursery, but she was not there. When Robb asked the whereabouts of his sister, a maidservant said that she is currently with Old Nan somewhere at the glass garden together with Sansa, as ordered by Lord Stark.

"Sansa?" said Robb to us after said maidservant has left. "I missed playing with Sansa. After Arya started to do her daily explosions, mother never let her come close with us."

"She never plays with me at the first place." said Jon with sadness in his voice. "Lady Stark always told her to avoid me."

"Not your fault Jon." I genuinely empathize with this boy, so I do what the typical cool and understanding aniki does that is placing my hand on top of Jon's shoulder. Being a son of a salt wife or whatever Northmen called mistress here must be tough. "Must be tough being you, Jon."

"Thank you... Theon." whispered Jon.

And yeah, the question of Jon's mother, I have asked the boys about it, but they don't know at the first place. Almost asked Lord Stark about it but then I think if Jon himself never get informed in the first place, who am I, a hostage fostered in Winterfell, to ask about this?

"Anyway, calm down you puppies, maybe Lord Stark only wants your sisters to do some sisterly bonding or something, like picking flowers together." I said while remembering my own sister Asha that was left at Pyke and stating the obvious thing my sister would like to do but cannot do because she is literally the only girl in the family, as she once said she wished for another sister. "It wasn't like Sansa will drag her all the way to the Sept and force her to relinquish her magic at the first place right?"

Robb and Jon exchanged their glances before looking back at my face, as if they just realized something that is so obvious.

"Oh well, maybe they are looking and picking at flowers... hmm... ahh... eew..." said Robb with mocking disgust in his face as he imitates the way little girl picking flowers and smells them. "Let's go play somewhere else then."

"Sounds good."

While we're spending the rest of our time today just lounging near the barracks, looking the Men-At-Arms practicing their swordsmanship at the yard until afternoon, cheering while they whack at each other using blunted training weapons like watching some medieval version of professional wrestling with fewer theatrics, and as nobody is doing finger dance here, it should be safe enough to watch from the side, unlike at Pyke when watching my father's men fight carry a distinctive risk of wayward axes flying towards your position.

Speaking of that, while we boys watch Men-At-Arms fight, I noticed that my 'detect enemy' skill suddenly activated, and as I look toward the direction of the eastern wall, that still under some repair even if they are almost finished. I could see a distinctive three eyed crow perched on top of a section of the wall.

As if that mutant crow was aware of me, it immediately flies away as soon as I look toward its direction. Oh well, maybe that mutant crow is some sort of local monster here, so I decided to keep no mind over that crow, who fly toward the direction of the Godswoods.

"Why we never get any serious lessons on archery here?" I asked Robb after current fight finished and I got both boys' full attention again. "I wanted to try shooting." (And also having bow ready to snipe that annoying looking mutant crow)

"You want to try archery? I think Jory once said lessons with real weapons begin at seven namedays. Before that, only playing with toy weapons like our usual stuffs." said Robb with a smile. "You should ask my father if you want to have a bow."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." I thanked Robb while keeping my eyes on the direction of the Godswoods, something definitely keep triggering my detect enemy sense from there.

"Where do you want to go Theon?" questioned Robb while they see me standing and left our seat near the Barracks.

"I'm kind of bored here; just want to go looking for something." I said in disinterested fashion, just wanted to lurk my way out to the Godswoods and see why the hell that damned mutant crow keep triggering my enemy detection skill after it fled there.

"Alright, just make sure to get to dining hall before dinner start." said Robb who quickly had his attention on another fight that just started.

...

I activated my lurk skill as soon as I entered the darker canopy of the Armory and trying to walk my way to the Godswoods rather silently. That damned mutant crow picked my interest when my sense keeps telling me that it is, for somewhat reason, my enemy.

I entered the wooden gate of the Godswoods when nobody is looking, and I could tell that something must be wrong with my skill. I keep getting sense that an enemy is nearby, but even as I tried to activate the farsight skill, I can't see that damned three eyed crow. Unlike last time I saw him in my room, that crow keep its silence instead of crowing and squawking, making it far harder to detect at a glance.

"Are you looking for me?" said a mysterious raspy voice behind my back.

I immediately jump out of my way and look toward the source of the voice. Behind me, I could see the very same three eyed crow perched upon white branch of the Weirwood tree.

"You... you could talk?" all my alarm now went off. Oh shit, a three eyed crow that could talk, something very very wrong could happen anytime from now on.

"Tell that moron Drowned Goddess of yours to stop meddling in other Gods' affairs, or face the consequences!" said the mutant crow with deep menacing voice, but then much to my surprise, and apparently the mutant crow as well, the Weirwood's own branch swatted the crow with such force that it falls to the ground, not dead but definitely hurt by the sudden attack of the tree, the later which has its carved face suddenly open his mouth and speak.

"Stop threatening a companion of my niece! She's a bitch and a moron, but she's my niece! Only I have the right to call her that! Understand?" said the Weirwood tree with deep booming voice, and I honestly don't know if I must be happy or frightened by that Weirwood, as it just literally called Aqua 'niece'. "She saved my life after all, unlike that useless fuckup that is her father."

"..." I look toward the nearest exit, not wanting to be caught between the spat of some mysterious forces that one side is apparently Aqua's uncle or something. I can sense the mutant crow ceased to be detected as hostile enemy as well, but maybe just in case...

"Welcome to my Holy abode, Hiki-NEET! My niece's companions are always welcome here!" said the Weirwood tree, and I only want to smack Aqua's head for apparently refer to me to her uncle by that title. "I already knew about your arrival, and the Crazy Explosion Girl who currently staying at the glass garden with her sister. My moron of a niece already told me all about you, only Darkness remains not near any Weirwoods to be detected, so..."

"My Lord God of The Green, you should not speak too much with..."

"Shut up Bloodraven! I am your God, I do whatever I want!"

"But you are..."

"Yes yes, I am currently sealed in the land beyond The Wall together with my niece. But shut up you albino freak! Ouch! Hey why are you whacking my head! Ow! Ow! Ow! This is my... Ow! Stop! Stop!"

"..." the glow around Weirwood tree suddenly turned off as if it becomes a normal Weirwood tree again. The three eyed crow exchanged confused glance with me as apparently someone else is with the Old God, and...

"KAAAAAZZZUUUMMMAAAAAAAAA!" suddenly the water from the black pool at the side of the Weirwood tree rose with a splash and a shrill, shrieking, annoying voice, forming a recognizable silhouette of a certain useless Goddess of Water, before the water construct start to grab my arms and literally shook me in place. "WHY AREN'T YOU PRAYING UNTO ME YOU APOSTATE?!"

"A... AQUAAAAA?!"

"YOU APOSTATE!"

"A... AQUAAAAAAA!" I screamed as the water construct started to form the more familiar form of Aqua, as if she really stands in front of me.

"I am your Goddess now you Hiki-NEET! Your people are mine! Worship me!" shouted Aqua as she keeps shaking my poor little seven years old body.

I planned to live my life leisurely as Lord of Iron Isles and work just hard enough so Lord Stark would deem me worthy to marry his daughter Megumin, some thirteen to fourteen years from now when she stops being a loli. I think I would meet Aqua later after at least being a teenager, but to think that Aqua in all her idiot glory will end up barging into my life this early.

"Ouch Aqua it hurts, be merciful! Mercy Aqua! Mercy! Aqua-sama! Aqua-sama! Aqua-samaaaaa! Please have mercyyy!"

Aqua grinned and lessened her grip.

"Good! Go ahead and praise me! Tell me how great a Goddess I am!" said Aqua while holding my poor body from her surprisingly solid and realistic grip. At the periphery of my vision, I could see the three eyed crow eyeing me with pity.

"If you are my people's Goddess, why you don't stop my father being moron at the first place? Why you never contact The Drowned Men or...?"

"She was captured rather immediately by forces of the Night's King." said the Weirwood tree, who apparently regained his glow again. "Apparently my moron of a niece can't resist being baited with a big bottle labeled '5000 years old Divine Peach Wine from Jade Empress' Garden' when its content is merely cheap booze mixed with peach flavored Kool-Aid."

Both me and the three eyed crow stared at Aqua, who started to fidget "Uh... ano... that was my favorite... uh..." like her usual idiot self and stay silent for some time, poking her fingers into each other.

"But at least, she were sealed here is something that saved my life. I have been almost dead when my niece was thrown in. She healed my dying self, and we actually managed to hold those edgelords at bay by combining our powers. As we still sealed here, we need your help!" said the Weirwood Tree. "Every worshiper count in our struggle against Night's King and The Great Other."

"I've heard that from Aqua, actually, that a God's powers raise in proportion to the numbers and devotion of said God's respective followers." I said while I grinned to Aqua. "So you two basically need more followers to break free of your sealing right?"

Both the Weirwood tree and Aqua confirmed that statement rather enthusiastically.

"And you'd better worship me from tomorrow onward! Pray unto me or you would not be Lord of The Iron Islands. For no Godless man can sit upon the Seastone Chair. I have another in mind if you refuse this deal..." said Aqua mischievously while I twitched my eyes.

"That's true Hiki-NEET, we have managed to pick two gullible idi..." said the Weirwood tree before Aqua quickly closes his mouth.

"We have managed to illuminate two noble warriors as our herald to spread the worship of my uncle and mine, especially mine though since I am the one who do most of the direct communication." said Aqua proudly while wagging her finger. "One of them is already a Greyjoy, I could make him call a Kingsmoot and deny you of your inheritance..."

"Wha... Kingsmoot?!" I panicked when remembering that particular semi-democratic feature of my people when the next-in-line is deemed unworthy, and thus could be removed by votes of the noble-captains of the longships. I remembered their story that although not being held for a long time, could be still technically called if Aqua managed to convince my family that she is their Drowned Goddess, and this damned thing will threaten my otherwise certain inheritance. "You... you're joking right Aqua?"

"And the other could be told to marry your sister if required, with literal divine backup, even if he is Greenlander in origin, your people will accept him once the Seastone Chair moved by itself to pick him at the first place. Plus your father might be inclined to put forth your sister's line as his heir if you turned out to be just another greenlander in his eyes." said Aqua mischievously.

"But... there's another Gods that also real right? What if I prayed to Buddha or Jesus? They're your superiors' right?" I want to say the nice Goddess Eris-sama as well, but considering Aqua practically bully her all around, maybe better bringing the big boys' name to her.

"Feh, those young 3000 years upstarts who get their high position over their placement in the central universe, even my moron of a niece here is slightly older than Brandon The Builder... OUCH! WHAT WAS THAT FOR!" said the Weirwood Tree being whacked by Aqua, and I just realize how *OLD* Aqua is, actually.

"Brandon... Brandon the Builder? So if you are... How old on now, just how *Old* you anyway? You're more than 6000 years? Oh man! If you're 6000 years that means you're really... really OLD!" I said while looking awkwardly toward the Goddess who could be my own ancestor so further removed, but looks like as if she is just barely older than my previous self.

"I am immortal you Hiki-NEET! And time flies differently in the afterlife anyway!" said Aqua while she keeps whacking the Weirwood tree for blurting out her utmost guarded secret back then when we're still adventuring in Eris' realm. I already bet she should be at minimum 1500 years old over all the shits she pulled over the last millennia, but to think that Aqua is literally time Abyss by herself.

"That's why you need to act and look your age if you want to be worshipped you moron of a niece! Change your appearance into an older one and you'll get... Hold it! Stop! Stop! Ouch! Stop!" said The Weirwood Tree while Aqua whacking him harder and this time including pulling his carved Weirwood face.

"They are always like this?" I asked the three eyed crow.

"Aye, the Old Gods are always like this." said the mutant crow that appears to just stoically watch two Old Gods duking it out like children. "I wish I could found a way to replace them somehow."

"I understand your feelings."

"Hey! Watch your words!" shouted Aqua while both her and the Weirwood tree glared toward me and the three eyed crow.

"Alright Aqua, so what do you want me to do if I were to keep my inheritance?" I said in a hope that she would not demand anything that is too much, praying to Aqua once a day is acceptable as long as I keep my inheritance, and she will always support me after all.

"I'm not asking much, just for you to pray unto me three times a day, that's all." said Aqua when she stops whacking the Weirwood tree and said tree hit her back one last time.

"Oi, something less please, I am not an Axis cult..."

"I'm actually going easy on you Kazuma. Remember your inheritance... you know what they do here to any deposed claimants right? Do you want to join The Night's Watch? Well, praying once a day is sufficient considering your lack of faith in me, but still..."

"Alright Aqua-sama." I lowered my head and decided that being a well off Lord who paid some lip services to worship of Aqua as The Drowned Goddess and pray unto her once a day might be worth it rather than finding my ass frozen on The Wall. And maybe I could skip praying her most of the time anyway, it's not like she's the most diligent Goddess who keep tallying how much her followers pray unto her.

"That's it; you're being such an obedient boy."

"So how did I pray to you oh Aqua-sama?" I said sarcastically, but she appears to not hear the sarcasm in my voice, or just doesn't freaking care at the first place.

"You could just pray like how you pray to Jesus or Buddha! No need for anything special!" said Aqua while looking all smug and mighty. "You should actually join Axis cult and pray unto me back then when we're still at Eris' realm anyway."

"We need your worship!" added the Weirwood tree.

"No pray, no inheritance, you go to The Wall, Hiki-NEET." said Aqua.

"Anything else you want to add? No imminent doom upon mankind or something?" I asked when those two Old Gods finally stop their bickering over revealing Aqua's true age.

"Sadly yes, there is an imminent doom upon mankind. In twenty to thirty years, give or take, our powers will be spent and the combined forces of the Two Greater Demon Kings will invade from beyond The Wall to ravage the world of men. For they would bring The Second Long Night." oh shit, that seems eerily like Megumin's chuuni bullshit turned out to be true.

"You actually speak to Megumin? The Crazy Explosion Stark girl?" I watched with awe, thinking that this must be the truth, Megumin has somehow contacted this Old God first, make sense since this Godswoods is at her home anyway.

"Neither I nor my niece has talked with Arya Stark, but I knew about her bullshits since Eddard Stark prayed unto me about those. However, as it was partially true and actually help the readiness of The Night's Watch. I simply let it slide, right Bloodraven?" said the Weirwood tree while I could see the three eyed crow nod in confirmation.

"Twenty years? Well, that may be just enough time to prepare then." I said while looking toward the suspiciously silent Godswoods. With all the ruckus happened here, at least someone is bound to discover us talking like this, and isn't Megumin and Sansa is with their Nanny at the Glass Garden nearby?

"We'd prefer if you managed to release us before the said twenty years anyway, or better yet, if you help spread the worship of our name, so we can get out of here by ourselves and simply overpower Night's King and The Great Other. That is why worship of The Seven-Faced Demons must be removed from the equation as well." said the Weirwood Tree.

"Anyway, regarding your magical powers, even if your skills are so basic compared to my Godly powers, we will help you on your endeavor Kazuma. Let's just said this is our way to get you and Megumin bigger guns, so to speak."

"With regard to magic, you could use Weirwood, Obsidian, or Valyrian Steel to amplify the power of your magic." said the Weirwood tree while a branch of Weirwood falls in front of me. "When you are awake you could try casting your magic with that."

I reluctantly picked the weirwood branch and... wait... did The Weirwood Tree said 'awake'?

"It will power up your magic by at least twice the original power, could be more if said Weirwood is ancient and or has been specifically crafted by magic user, even more if combined with Obsidian or Valyrian Steel as the core. You have the blacksmith skill so you could create a new staff for Megumin as well." said Aqua before disappeared into puddle of water.

"And it's time to wake up Hiki-NEET! Wake up!" said the Weirwood tree before everything turned black.

...

I opened my eyes and I could see the concerned face of Lord Stark and Maester Luwin looking on top of me. I see that this is my own room at the Guest House.

I rolled over and feel something long and hard inside my hands, as I looked toward it, I could see the very same weirwood branch, which I've picked in my dream, being gripped in my hands.

"Old Nan, Arya, and Sansa found you unconscious under the Weirwood Tree." said Lord Stark with concern at his face. "And for somewhat reason, you hold a weirwood branch at your hand that could not be pried off by the guards. Did the Old Gods gave you vision?"

"Weirwood... amplify magic..." I said while waving off the Weirwood branch. "I have something that needs to be tested Lord Stark, if that was true, then The Gods really talked to me once again. Oh wait! The Second Long Night! That would happen in twenty to thirty years from now according to Old God that resides in the Weirwoods!"

"I am not sure if that was supposed to be a relief or still being imminent danger, considering the Long Night occurred thousands of years ago." said Lord Stark with concern.

As I sat up upon my bed, I could see the three eyed crow perched just outside my window, but this time, it does not trigger my enemy detection sense.

"Anyway Theon, there is something we want to talk about with you after dinner. This is regarding what we found about the third known magic user in the world." said Maester Luwin.

...


	12. PART 12 : THEON

**Part 12 : THEON / KAZUMA**

 **Winterfell, 289 AC**

Third magic user?

My first thought is about how they found Darkness, and what kind of absurdly unpleasant kinky debauchery of pain she has done for her own pleasure that made her absurd defense and inhuman resistance being obvious as magical in origin, when she should be the one with far less obvious magic between the three of us. I shuddered when I think about my own prediction of Darkness should be at most 8 or 9 years old, maybe 10 if we're pushing it, and that made the thought of her being fallen into her most depraved throes of masochism very disturbing.

But then, I remembered about Aqua and her uncle mentioned about picking two gullible idiots who would act as their herald to spread their worship or something. Could either of them being the 'third magic user' mentioned by Maester Luwin? One is a Greyjoy and very likely to be one of my uncles, while the other one is Greenlander with high enough rank to marry my sister without my father complaining. I shuddered at the thought about Aqua really meant to deprive me of my inheritance in favor of either of them; being sent to The Wall would be a fate worse beyond death.

Ah yes, The Wall, the absurd system of some sort of monastic order ostensibly used to defend the Realm of Men since either 6000 to 8000 years ago, but there are no demonic attack for so long from beyond The Wall, only some sort of wild men and giants periodically attack them. That said, now those at The Wall are more collection of criminals, prisoners, unwanted bastards, and most importantly a convenient dumping ground for Deposed lords and nobles. With the bulk of the ranks coming from the scum of medieval society, and add expectations that they would be either celibate or gay (with having no wives and fathering no children thing in their vow), I would bet that The Wall is in fact, penal legion camp for gay masochists.

If only Darkness was reincarnated here as a man, I'm sure she will appreciate that.

Oh well, whatever, maybe I should stop thinking too hard and have dinner first, praying daily to Aqua-sama the useless Goddess might not be too bad when the alternative are clearly far worse.

...

As I look toward the concerned faces of Lord Stark and Maester Luwin, I remembered the Weirwood branch I have in my hand.

"The Old God of The Green and The Drowned Goddess said that Weirwood could be used to amplify the power of magic." I almost said Obsidian and Valyrian Steel, but then I currently have no access to the later two, so I think to save that for later, can't risk Megumin create too big of explosion when she still can't go outside after all.

Maester Luwin nodded at my statement. "So you wish to test it?"

I look outside of the window, and I could see the eastern part of Winterfell complete with guards and servants still walking around. Testing this may end up outing my magic to everyone to see, so I shook my head.

"Not right now, I still wish to hide my magic at least until I am old enough to travel outside."

"You could try that at the abandoned Keep later." said Maester Luwin with a shine in his eyes. "I could accompany you."

"Um, thanks Maester Luwin?"

"Anyway, I want to ask your permission if you agree to divulge your status as magic user to my lady wife." said Lord Stark as I raised my eyebrows.

"Why?" Is Megumin blurting something about our past life? "You have my permission Lord Stark, but why?"

"Because to others who do not know about you, the third magic user is naturally counted as the second magic user, and said magic user was revealed to be someone in her direct family."

"Oh..."

"We'll talk later after dinner then."

...

As we walked into the Dining Hall, I see something rather unusual here. Lady Stark is already seated while holding Megumin on her lap, her eyes are bloodshot red with black bags under the lid, and her stare is disturbingly blank, as if she has cried for more than a day or so. Even Megumin look disturbed about her mother's condition as she unusually sat calmly on her mother's lap. I looked at her side and could see Robb and Sansa seated beside Lady Stark, with Jon Snow seated at the far side of the table instead of near Robb as usual.

"I am so sorry Arya..." cried Lady Stark softly to Megumin while ruffling her hair.

"Mother... please stop..." said Megumin softly, but her mother just keep crying despite her tears is almost dried.

Oh well the third magic user must be someone close to Lady Stark then, it is now almost certain that one of the gullible idiot Aqua managed to snare must be a Tully for Lady Stark to be concerned, but to enter catatonic state like this, something worse must already happened.

I simply try to be polite, not speaking anything, walk toward Jon Snow and picked the seat at his side. Apparently that was the norm in this household, Lady Stark always want to be far away from her husband's bastard, I understand her reasoning though, to be honest.

Lord Stark sat at his wife's side, placing his hand on top of Lady Stark's shoulder.

"Cat, this is not your fault or even your family's fault." said Lord Stark softly. "This is just the will of the Old Gods."

"Not now Ned, not now. Please." replied Lady Stark softly before she back on caressing Megumin's hair, the later only able to sit nervously upon her mother's lap.

Servants silently serve us dinner. I tried to look at Robb, and he just replies with the same confused look in his face. Jon Snow keep his head down all the time, and Sansa is apparently even more disturbed than Megumin upon their mother's condition.

"I am so sorry Arya..." I could hear Lady Stark muttered this whisper again rather repeatedly toward Megumin, who apparently only stuck silent with sudden change of her mother's attitude towards her.

What the hell happened that leave Lady Stark in catatonic state like that?

...

After we finished our dinner, Lord Stark apparently able to talk with his wife to let go of Megumin as they go together toward Lord Stark's study. Maester Luwin told me to follow him rather immediately afterward, and I did not even have time to talk anything to Megumin at the first place.

In front of Lord Stark's study, Maester Luwin told me to go with him to a secluded corner, as if he wanted to tell me something before I enter the study.

"What happened? Why Lady Stark..."

"Her brother Edmure Tully, Heir of Riverrun, is the third known magic user, well, second known magic user to most people who never knew about your ability at the first place." said Maester Luwin softly before adding something that made my bone chilled. "He has been witnessed praying in front of Weirwood Heart Tree before attacking a Septon and a Maester with magic inside of a Sept, apparently over how they blown away his cover as a water magic user. Thankfully no fatalities occurred yet."

"Water magic?" waits a minute, so Aqua really gave magic to one of her pair of gullible idiots. I hope she did not give my Greyjoy uncle something worse than that as well. Dammit Aqua, what else are you planning now?

"Edmure Tully was last seen running away from Riverrun, but that was not the end of the problem. After learning the truth of why Edmure Tully run away, two days after, Ser Robin Ryger, who previously tasked by Lord Hoster to capture his son, end up resigning from his position as Captain of The Guard at Riverrun in anger. House Blackwood, Ryger, Piper, and Smallwood, all worshipers of The Old Gods, have declared their support to Edmure Tully, start expelling all Septons and Septas from their land, mobilizing their army, and threaten rebellion if anything bad happen to the still missing Heir of Riverrun, while some other first men houses apparently considering converting back into worship of The Old Gods in light of this revelation."

"Uh, so this is about Lady Stark's homeland then?"

"Let's be honest, this is something worse. The High Septon has declared Edmure Tully an apostate and expects Lord Hoster to disinherit him in favor of Brynden Tully, Lord Hoster's brother, who currently resides at The Vale. With more than a third of Riverlands still following The Old Gods, however, if Lord Hoster dares to follow the High Septon's order, a significant rebellion will break out between followers of The Seven against followers of The Old Gods."

Oh fuck...

"The tension is high and only royal guarantee from King Robert himself that Edmure Tully could worship whatever Gods he pleased while maintaining his inheritance keep the situation from escalating into open war. The High Septon has petitioned Lord Hand to permit The Faith to take more active stance in this situation. So far, Lord Hand himself still forbids any kind of intervention by The Faith."

"I understand, so that's why Lady Stark..."

"If this situation escalates into open war, every House in The North, even House Manderly, will expect us to intervene in favor of the followers of The Old Gods. There are also rumors that the Mountain Clans of the Vale declared their support to Edmure Tully as well, who could drag The Vale, home of Lord Hand Jon Arryn, into this war due to sheer influence of The Faith there. All while the alliance between Stormland, North, Riverlands, Vale, and Westerland is the backbone of current Baratheon dynasty. King Robert and Lord Hand will loathe being dragged into a war that will force them to take the opposite side of their personal friend Lord Stark; this is why Royal authority decides to declare leeway for Edmure Tully as long as he strives to keep the peace, all despite strong resistance from The High Septon and The Faith."

"So what about it concerns me?" I asked while hoping I could just sit here in peace without being entangled into this clusterfuck, who happened to be just after my own father's idiotic rebellion.

"We hope for you to clarify the true identity of Edmure Tully, because lady Arya speaks to her mother about Darkness when the later brought to her about another magic user. Lord Stark has said that if Edmure Tully is indeed the 'Warrior of Darkness' mentioned by lady Arya, he wants to ask you if there is something he could do to resolve this matter in a relatively peaceful way."

I can't help but facepalmed, accidentally blurting about Darkness in another situation may be something that would not be taken as a serious matter because we did not know where the fuck is Darkness at the first place. But misidentifying her own Tully uncle as Darkness... due to Lalatina ojou-sama having that kind of nickname, I could understand why Lady Stark ends up like that. Having her magic user daughter being 'The Destroyer' and now her magic user brother mistakenly identified as 'Darkness' will definitely cause untold mental trauma to someone who has her own faith preaching against magic. Sure Faith of The Seven is demonic in nature, but it seems Lady Stark will not believe that claim without hard proof, and there are possibilities of war looming in the horizon.

I sighed as Maester Luwin knocked the door toward Lord Stark's study, and we enter the room to met Lord and Lady Stark there, Lord Stark, apparently already talking about me with Lady Stark, immediately looking at us and mentioned about my arrival to his wife.

"And as I have said this is Theon Greyjoy, you already know him as my ward, but he is indeed the other magic user other than our daughter Arya. Somehow, they know each other due to being touched by The Old Gods, so I hope he could help to give us insight about how to either contact or resolve matter with your brother."

I gulped as Lady Stark raised her face and look toward me.

"H... hello Lady Stark..." I tried to open the conversation but it falls flat as I just can't stand looking straight into her piercing gaze.

"Is my brother really The Warrior of Darkness?" said Lady Stark with stern voice, a very stark contrast from her previous demeanor.

I honestly don't fucking know on how to answer this. Obviously the answer is no, but how to bring up this in a manner that would not totally contradict whatever bullshit Megumin has spewed without my knowledge at the first place?

My brain has been frozen for a minute or two due to having no clue on how to answer this properly... lying now may prove fatal later, but the truth... Well, time for my luck stat to prove their worth, if this world still have some sort of stats anyway...

I bow deep in front of Lady Stark while saying "Forgive me Lady Stark! I could not know for sure for I never met your brother and see him face to face!"

"So you actually need to see face to face for confirming another magic user?" said Lord Stark. "There is no need to ask for forgiveness, this is not your fault."

"It makes sense My Lord, as this is exactly how he confirmed the identity of lady Arya as the cause of explosions at the first time." said Maester Luwin. Well then, apparently I will have some way to wiggle my way out without contradicting Megumin's bullshit this time.

"Why Arya said he could be Darkness?"

"Darkness is our fated companion, my lady." I tried to not mention anything about Aqua or Drowned Goddess or even our chuuni titles for fear of causing more questions. "What I know is Darkness is a Warrior, to be precise, a Knight."

Upon hearing my words, I could see Lady Stark's posture suddenly slumped. I did not know why, but thankfully Lord Stark is quick enough to catch his wife from falling.

"Knight... Edmure only recently being Knighted... not everyone, know about this..." muttered Lady Stark weakly before she falls into unconsciousness.

Oh shit, Knights are rarity in both Iron Isles and North, but I forgot they are rather common in The South.

"I myself never knew Edmure Tully has been Knighted already." said Lord Stark weakly. "That was the confirmation we need."

"... I am sorry Lord Stark... But that does not mean that he is Darkness, it's only a possibility..."

"Anyway, is there any way for us to contact him? I wish to at least talk some sense with him so there will be no war between followers of The Old Gods against The Faith of The Seven."

"I am sorry Lord Stark, I don't exactly know how. I meant I was not exactly in touch with your daughter before my fostering here."

"..." Lord Stark looks as if he is thinking hard, but then he just shook his head slowly.

"I can't exactly help you in this..."

"There are many questions in my mind right now. So many unexpected things... you may leave..."

"T... thank you, Lord Stark."

"If the Old Gods talk with you again, please ask them on how to keep the peace in this land. Ask them for Edmure Tully to return to Riverrun in peace as The King already guarantees his freedom of choice. No one wants this situation to escalate further."

"I... I'll try Lord Stark." I bow deep once again before walking my way slowly outside.

Weighing my options, I could simply sleep and claim ignorance of all things, but then, my guilt over what is Aqua's fault won't let me just forget what the fuck just happened. Sure, whoever this Edmure Tully is, he must be a gullible idiot.

Oh well, Megumin not yet done her daily explosion yet, maybe I could start to talk about my contact with Aqua and a very real Old God. Maybe this would help in sorting out the mess we currently stand on and start to crumble due to Aqua's idiocy.

How to contact Aqua and The Old God of The Green again anyway? Now if only that mutant raven is around...

...


	13. PART 13 : THEON

**PART 13 : THEON / KAZUMA**

 **Winterfell, 289 AC**

This is awkward; especially when I looked at how Lady Stark slumped while being carried by Septa Mordane and two female servants toward her chamber while repeatedly muttering "Darkness... my brother is Darkness..."

Megumin is at my side, looking very guilty with the catatonic state her mother is currently in. She did not exactly cry but her eyes are already wet, while Robb tried to tell her that was not her fault. Nope, that was Megumin's fault all along for being such a jerk to her own mother at the first place and calling whoever this Edmure Tully as 'Darkness' is merely the last straw.

From Maester Luwin, we are informed about Lord Stark's stances about this; while my secret as another magic user would be kept safe, there will be letters sent to various Lords that is known to still worship The Old Gods south of The Neck. Lord Stark urge them to maintain peace of their land, not provoking The Faith of The Seven, and if they somehow meet with or already sheltering Edmure Tully, he should be told to go back to Riverrun as there are already Royal Guarantee for his choice of belief. Lord Stark also sent letter to his goodfather Lord Hoster of House Tully, as well as another to King Robert himself, but Maester Luwin did not share their specific contents to us.

I told Megumin that tomorrow, she should go with me to light the glass candle and hopefully we could contact Aqua to confirm whatever shit she pulled with her uncle, and how to get in touch with this Edmure Tully as apparently Aqua could reach him somehow. And if we get a definitive answer, we will apologize to Lady Stark. The uncoordinated chuuni bullshits start to claim unintended victims and this would be bad for us in the long run.

The explosion today is rather dull compared to before, as Megumin only said her rather standard chant of "I am Arya of House Stark, Blackness darker than black and darker than dark. The time of destruction cometh, return all creations to cinders and come from the Abyss! Explosion!"

Of course Maester Luwin still diligently documenting that chant, noting about the relative shortness, and also the relatively 'not-as-impressive-as-usual' explosion, that I would rate only as 45/100.

...

The next morning, after a mostly silent breakfast, I picked Megumin, and we go to my room to light the Glass Candle.

After the windows are closed, and there is only single normal candle to be our light source, I used tinder to light the glass candle. Much to our surprise, the Glass Candle not only burn, but it actually emitted a strange blue-white fire that actually feels cold.

I can immediately see Aqua clutching what seems to be a large bottle of booze in crouching position while there are numerous pale white skinned, glowing blue-eyed Demons wielding curved crystal swords that emits white mist from their blades, walked in a slow, menacing way toward her. One of them is having rather distinctive armor that looks like a long mail coat and a crown made of ice on his head.

"This is Darkness' fault! This is all Darkness' fault! Yamete yamete yamete yamete!" said Aqua while she keeps crying, clutching the bottle, and resisting the Demons who try to grab and the crowned Demon who try to manually bind her with chain made of crystals. "Yamete! This is Darkness' fault! Yamete yamete!" and not for long, Aqua's cry started to turn into unintelligible gibberish as she flailed her arms and legs while chugging the entirety of the big bottle, her pink hagoromo floats around her all the time, all in attempt to resist being captured by the Demons.

After seeing that scene for several minutes, the scene apparently ended with Aqua being hog tied with that crystal chain and carried away by those Demons, before starting again from the very beginning with Aqua crying while clutching a large bottle of booze. After watching that scene for the third time, I decided to simply put off the fire by blowing it, surprisingly, it worked.

Oh well, I recognize that scene has been mentioned by the Old God of The Green, Aqua's uncle, as apparently she instantly fell for the bait booze, but why she blame Darkness, of all people?

"The Others!" said Megumin after the vision in the flame ended. "Just like what Old Nan said!"

"Why can't she hear us anyway? This is unlike when she contacted me yesterday."

"Apparently this is some sort of Magic imprinting that gave the vision." said Megumin while raising her eyebrows. "And that's exactly why Aqua end up being captured, she was just being her idiot self as usual."

"And in her desperation to gain more worshiper to escape, somehow she contacted my Greyjoy uncle, didn't know which one, and your uncle Edmure. I suspect she gave both of them magic too, not just your uncle."

"So what should we say to my mother?" said Megumin with concern. "I didn't think..."

"Sssh... we will find a way. Maybe stop bothering your mother would be a good start. And never mention anything about Darkness ever again."

"I now started to understand why Darkness used to worry so much when her father was sick."

"And my father here rebels against the crown, my elder brothers all died, and now I'm taken hostage at your house. In term of misfortune, I got it worse!"

"But now you are the heir to Iron Islands, despite you being the youngest child."

"Well, yeah, but that's not the point dammit." I do end up frightened if all this 'misfortune' is the result of my high luck that will work in my favor when we consider long term benefit. I know I should feel guilty being an indirect kinslayer somehow, but then my eldest brother is a pirate and my second eldest is a jerk. At least this beats having your own parents laughing at the funny matter that is your death, somehow.

...

Our supernatural experiment today end up with zero result with regard to contacting Aqua, so after Megumin going somewhere to be with Old Nan, I end up having our lesson with Maester Luwin as usual with Robb and Jon. Today's lesson is rather boring numbers again, and I don't want to say much about it.

After lunch with Robb and Jon, we had riding lesson again, but that was also kind of boring to me. Not much can be said as well.

At night however, Megumin appears to already regain her good mood, while Lady Stark appears to be not as catatonic as yesterday (she still has those black bags under her eyes, and she still stares blankly every now and then). I exchanged knowing smile with Megumin, who appeared to actually ask forgiveness to Lady Stark for her cold rudeness lately. From what Megumin said, Lady Stark herself already resigned from trying to cure Megumin from her 'curse of magic', and having her daughter herself said 'sorry for making you worried sick' definitely do wonder to repair Lady Stark's mental health.

Much to everyone's surprise at dinner, Lord Stark told Robb, Sansa, and Megumin (while I and Jon just hearing at the sideline as we sat on the far side of the table), about how their grandfather, Hoster Tully, asked for Lord and Lady Stark to visit him at Riverrun in around a month, apparently to do some sort of peace conference because Lord Hand Jon Arryn himself would be present as well. Travel time between Winterfell and Riverrun is about little more than half a month with carriages, so it would be a rather long journey. Accompanying them would be Lord Karstark, who would come to Winterfell first, and Lords Manderly and Reed, who will join them along the way.

Long story short, in about two weeks, give or take, Lord and Lady Stark would leave Winterfell for Riverrun, and give the authority over us to Rodrik Cassel the Castellan. More surprising is how Sansa and Septa Mordane would be included on their travel, while we boys and Megumin would be left here at Winterfell. Lord Stark told us that there is a big possibility that Sansa may end up fostered at Riverrun, so if they wanted to play with Sansa, they should try to do it before the journey to Riverrun begin.

I barely knew Megumin's older sister anyway, so that would not be a loss for me. Same here with Jon, right? Sansa never play with him anyway.

So leaving aside the family matter, I end up feeling bored and ask Jon if he feels the same way. Jon said yes, and I suggest for us to go looking around Winterfell, just seeing things around in the meantime. Jon is obviously not too comfortable leaving Robb, but apparently the boredom is too high upon us, who are not really included in this family talk of some sort.

So we stand from our seat and bid Lord Stark our leave.

"Sure you can leave Jon, Theon, just be careful." said Lord Stark with a smile.

"May I..." said Robb while trying to leave his seat, but Lord Stark touched his shoulder, not permitting him to leave as apparently there is still personal matters that must be said between Lady Stark's children.

We looked at Robb before we walked out of the dining hall.

...

The situation here is rather silent at near midnight, Megumin already blasted her explosion some time before when we both not looking at her. Jon and I lie near the black pool under the Weirwood tree. Because we literally circled this castle three times already, and we are literally exhausted over our night walk.

"Well, this day is boring, isn't it Jon?" I questioned Jon, who is already half asleep upon the grass.

"Can't blame father though, this is his duty. Pity for us to miss Arya doing her explosion though." said Jon while looking up to the cloudy sky. "What was that?"

I also think that there is someone I feel I know flying upon us, carrying a long black bundle of something, and before we even realize anything, said bundle is suddenly dropped from the sky and fall neatly in front of us.

Yes, with my night vision, I could confirm that flying thing is definitely the three eyed crow I have met. But why he dropped this bundle when I was being alone with Jon instead of when I have Robb and Jon at my side?

I opened the bundle out of curiosity and found two things wrapped inside the tattered black cloth. A long, bone white weirwood bow with some red stains marking the body centered with some runic carving on its body (I knew because there are several weirwood furniture at Winterfell, and also has looked at some runes), the length is about five feet long, taller than myself. And while we are at it, there is also a long sword inside the bundle, with distinctive dark rippled, slender blade, shiny red jewel in the center of the hand guard, and the rather distinctive flame shaped pommel.

"Why does that crow dropped this Weirwood Longbow anyway?" I scratched my head while inspecting the sudden literal dropped items.

"And isn't this a Valyrian Steel blade?" questioned Jon while scrunching his eyes, looking at the sword he carried in his hand. "We should tell my father about this..."

"... maybe next morning? I am already sleepy right now."

"I think we should go to my father right now. Anyway, you want to keep the longbow?" questioned Jon while I realize I still grab the longbow at my hand.

"You could keep the sword; I feel that would be too long for me anyway. I'll keep the bow." I didn't mention that I prefer having Chunchunmaru, err... a shorter katana as my personal sword.

"How would we carry these weapons into our rooms without anyone noticing anyway? We should go to my father, right now, come on Theon."

"Alright Jon, alright..." I nodded before start walking behind Jon toward his father's solar.

...

The guards outside the Godswoods informed Rodrik Cassel of our findings, as Jon end up being a good boy who did not want to be caught sneaking around with real sharp sword in his hand.

After the Master-At-Arms arrive, we gave the weapons to him to be inspected and safekeeping (he insisted these are not toys for untrained children to carry around), but he would be with us to carry these findings to Lord Stark, as having those weapons dropped from the sky when we're at the Godswoods may meant The Gods wanted us to have these weapons at the first place.

Rodrik did confirm that yes, that long, slender sword is indeed a very well-made Valyrian Steel Sword, and he wanted to inform Maester Luwin to check the tomes for mention about any historical sword that bear resemblance to the sword that just dropped from the sky by a three eyed crow. He also confirmed that the bow is indeed a very well-made Weirwood bow with some weird runes carved into the handle, but for most parts, he is far more interested in examining the Valyrian Steel sword.

Alright, why did that mutant freak of a crow gave us these weapons anyway? I start to think those are intended to be my 'cheat items' or so to speak, but then why dropping them with Jon Snow present? If only that three eyed crow gave me those when I'm alone, I may have better luck on silently lurk into my room and keep them both safe under my bed. Oh well, I do prefer bows, so I have no complaint if Jon Snow end up claiming the sword. Back then when adventuring in Eris' realm, the etiquette is to share any items you found together with your party members who present at the time of finding, so in a way, I just feel that Jon Snow deserve to have that sword at the first place.

...

As we entered Lord Stark's study, Lord Stark immediately asked for Maester Luwin to come with the tome describing various Valyrian Steel Sword heirlooms that was known in Westeros, all while paid comparatively far less attention to the Weirwood longbow we found. It seems that not even Lord Stark is immune to the typical cliché about sword being more prestigious weapon than bow.

"The slender blade, the red jewel marking the hand guard, and the flame shaped pommel are the very description of the lost Valyrian Steel sword Dark Sister, my lord." said Maester Luwin after finding the matching description and illustration found in the tome he carried from the library. "This sword is last known to have been wielded by Brynden Rivers, the 993rd Lord Commander of The Night's Watch when he disappeared while ranging beyond The Wall in 252 AC."

"Dark... Sister..." said Lord Stark with a wince on his face when Maester Luwin mentioned the name 'Dark Sister' in front of us, for some reason.

"And with the identity of the sword confirmed, it would be a certainty that the Weirwood longbow found alongside the sword must be Bloodraven's famed Weirwood longbow."

"Bloodraven?" wait a minute, where did I hear that name before? Oh wait, that uncle of Aqua do refer to the three eyed crow as 'Bloodraven' back then.

"Lord Bloodraven is the alias of Ser Brynden Rivers, he is well-known for being an expert bowman with his Weirwood longbow, but he was also known to carry the sword Dark Sister, bestowed unto him by his father, King Aegon IV of House Targaryen." said Maester Luwin softly while Lord Stark again looking very uncomfortable with said sword held in his hand..

"In another circumstances, I would prefer sending the Sword to King's Landing, for King Robert should be its rightful owner. This sword is half of the pair of Royal Swords that once belongs to House Targaryen. It should belong to the rightful King on the Iron Throne." said Lord Stark with a frown on his face. "But as you said, a three eyed crow dropped those weapons in front of you at the Godswoods. The meaning of this..."

"I feel Jon Snow deserve to own the sword Lord Stark, as we are both the finders of those weapons. The Old Gods said that Weirwood amplify magic, and I like the longbow more, so the longbow could be meant for my use." I said while thinking that mentioning Valyrian Steel could be used to amplify magic as well may work in my favor, but then it could turn everyone to think myself as a greedy Ironborn. "The etiquette here is to share whatever you found together with your friends right?"

"Uh Theon, you shouldn't think about me that much, I am just a bastard after all and not deserving the sword." said Jon with awkward smile on his face.

"But isn't Brynden Rivers himself is a bastard's name?" I smirked while looking at Jon Snow, who in turn nervously eyeing the sword in Lord Stark's hand. "Lord Stark, I already offered for Jon to keep the sword while I keep the bow for myself. We found two items; we share the loot between us, just giving Jon his rightful share."

Lord Stark seems to wince again when I said that sword is Jon's rightful share.

"Y... You gave that sword to... J... Jon?" Lord Stark uncharacteristically stuttered his speech, maybe he actually prefers if that sword to be sent to the King, or maybe he thought Robb would be better owner.

"If I was with Robb, naturally the sword should be Robb's but because Jon is the one with me; I felt that sword is his right."

"This sword, Dark Sister, was associated with the previous Royal Family, the House Targaryen, it is a very precious, priceless sword." added Maester Luwin. "It could end up causing misunderstanding because that sword could be used to bolster the claim to the Iron Throne, if the wielder has that claim at the first place. If this sword ends up in the hand of a Targaryen loyalist, or a Blackfyre claimant..."

"Then just have Jon wield it carefully, Dark Sister belongs to Jon." I said while looking toward Lord Stark, who for somewhat reasons started to have sweats forming on his forehead, thanks to my improved observation skill. "Or did that means I should not wield the longbow either? Is this another Targaryen heirloom forbidden to be used by non-Royals or something?"

"No, the longbow is fine if you want to use it as it was Brynden Rivers' personal weapon, never being directly associated to House Targaryen at the first place... but the sword..." said Lord Stark.

"Belongs to Jon."

"Theon, I don't mean to..." said Jon while looking his father on the verge of panic or something.

"Wait, is this sword is that important to The King or something?" I asked to Lord Stark while even Maester Luwin and Rodrik Cassel seem equally puzzled by Lord Stark's sudden nervousness.

"Father, you could just send the sword for your friend King Robert. I did not mean to... Theon, I did not wish for this sword, this must be something very important to The King." said Jon seeing his father's distressed face.

"But I feel this sword should be yours Jon." I stressed while pointing toward the sky. "If I found the weapons alone, that may be another matter, but I found those weapons together with you, so you deserve the other weapon that I feel no inclination to wield at the first place."

"You felt no inclination to wield the sword?" questioned Maester Luwin with raised eyebrows. "Valyrian Steel sword is a very expensive, very precious thing for many people."

I shook my head at Maester Luwin's statement, signaling my intention to not taking the sword clear. Uh well, what to say about this then, my weapon skill mostly lies in snipe skill due to my outrageous luck, and Weirwood could be used as magic staff if required. I know I could train myself to be more comfortable wielding a long sword such as this, but Jon definitely deserve his share of loot at the first place.

"Dark Sister was heirloom of House Targaryen wasted on a bastard by King Aegon the Unworthy." said Rodrik Cassel. "For it to be wielded by a bastard once again might be taken as insult to the current Baratheon dynasty."

Jon looks down at Rodrik's statement. Oh well, maybe this is the side effect of being a bastard in this world. I feel that I should cheer Jon up with something, so...

"But considering the name of the sword is Dark Sister, maybe this refers to your sister Arya, The Arch Wizard Arya who wields the mighty explosion magic is your sister after all." I said with a grin to Jon. "Arya and her explosion, a nice match for the sword's name, right Jon?"

"Umm... that seems to be forcing it Theon. Why are you thinking about Arya only because the name of the sword is Dark Sister?" said Jon with confusion.

"Because she is your sister, duh. Dark. Sister. Something something about your sister. Something about Sister." I said the obvious, but then I can't help but notice Lord Stark's face turned pale for a while. Did Lord Stark think Jon would end up trying to woo Megumin just because he wields a sword named Dark Sister? Oh joy, Lord Stark must have quite an imagination in his head.

"Sister... Dark Sister..." said Lord Stark in shaky voice before he regained his composure. I never imagined before that Lord Stark would have quite an imagination about sistercon between his children, but that may be the only explanation. Have no worry Lord Stark, sometimes as men; we tend to have too much imagination about that thing.

"Why not let Jon have the sword that could be said to be named in honor of his sister Lord Stark?" I tried my best to not snickering over imagining Lord Stark's secret sistercon fetish between his children; this poor guy must feel very guilty over his own overly active imagination.

"No... Not about..." said Lord Stark before he looks outside the window and back to us again. "This sword is former heirloom of House Targaryen. This sword should belong for King Robert... in another circumstance... but... but..."

I looked at Jon, who is also confused on why this sword caused that much distress unto Lord Stark. Well, maybe Lord Stark does think Jon should not wield that sword at the first place because he's a bastard and the sword being too precious to be wasted on a bastard, like Rodrik just said.

Maybe it would be better for that sword to be sold, as Maester Luwin once said about lost Valyrian Steel weapons in his lessons. If that sword can not belong to Jon due to his bastardy, then at least Jon should be reimbursed with the financial value of Dark Sister.

"Maester Luwin, how much the price House Lannister offered to buy a Valyrian Steel sword anyway? The one you said about Lord Mormont and his Longclaw." I questioned to Maester Luwin as he once said that Tywin Lannister once offered to buy the sword Longclaw from Lord Mormont, which was refused despite House Mormont being a rather poor Northern House.

"Five hundred thousand golden dragons." said Maester Luwin softly.

"Then, if Lord Stark did not permit Jon to wield this sword, why not sell the sword in the first place and have Jon reimbursed with the financial value?" I said with a smile on my face. "Let's just sell that sword to House Lannister then. Half a million golden dragons should be far more than enough to build Jon a comfortable castle with developed land somewhere in the North, right?"

"Selling the sword to House Lannister is not an honorable thing to do... considering its status." said Lord Stark with a sigh.

"Then have an open bid start from half a million golden dragons, let House Lannister and The King offer their price for the sword, right? Considering its status as Targaryen heirloom and such, it might actually end up with price above one million golden dragons, you could give half million to Jon, and use the profit to improve Winterfell..."

"T... Theon, but I... I..." said Jon while waving his hand in front of my face.

"If you can't wield the Dark Sister, at least you can sell it, right? Two hundred thousand golden dragons are enough to build a decent castle according to Maester Luwin, five hundred thousand and you would be a well off Lord. I have feeling that House Lannister might just pay one million golden dragons up front because of the history of that sword, so you could as well..."

"Why are you so eager to sell something given by The Gods?" questioned Rodrik.

Uh-oh... wait... oh well, stay calm Kazuma, you are master of business negotiation back then, being billionaire adventurer and all, but maybe saying something about selling the sword might alarm people here. Calm down, calm down, do not think about this with your business intuition, it seems.

"The Gods revealed Weirwood to be magic amplifier, and I do feel The Gods meant to me to wield the longbow at the first place." I tried to stay calm while everyone is looking as if I just committed some sort of blasphemy. "And I do feel the sword Dark Sister belongs to Jon. If he can't wield it, it should be within his right to sell the sword, if he is not permitted to wield one."

"You feel... You *feel* the sword belongs to Jon?" questioned Lord Stark while looking directly into my eyes.

"Yes Lord Stark, I do feel Dark Sister is for Jon to wield. However, if you do not give him permission to wield it for fear of offending House Baratheon or something, then at least Jon deserves fair financial reimbursement of some sort." I said while try to keep my confidence. "Of course, it would be preferable for Jon to simply wield Dark Sister instead of selling it, but if you're afraid of offending The King... Or are you afraid with something else?" I said while shrugging my shoulder. From nervous expression on his face, apparently Lord Stark do has sistercon imagination running in his brain, oh well, this is beyond hilarious.

Lord Stark looks toward said sword in his hand for a considerable amount of time, before he looks toward Jon as if he's thinking something about it.

"You are of my blood..." said Lord Stark with pained expression. *OH COME ON*, did this guy has overly active imagination that rival Darkness?

"Come on Lord Stark, it's not like that this sword actually having something with sister you know. Arya is a magic user but her magic is much more about direct explosion, she would not be inclined to wield that sword..." I said with a sly grin on my face. "Or are you thinking what I am thinking?"

Lord Stark's face turned pale upon hearing my words. Gotcha, it seems that I finally peeked into Lord Stark's imagination closet!

"What... no..." said Lord Stark weakly.

Alright, this guy is definitely a closet sick fuck sistercon that secretly wanted his children to fuck each other. In the case that he is a sick enough guy to expect Jon to do something unmentionable to Megumin, I think that would be the clue for me to start escape this castle and back to Pyke. I did not hope that would happen, considering my own family is filled with idiots, but some contingency could never hurt.

"..." I only smiled to Lord Stark while his pained expression goes even deeper. Should inform Megumin about his father's secret fetish next morning? This is uncomfortable but maybe Megumin should know that his father has secret fantasy about his own children doing unmentionable things to each others like House Targaryen.

"Theon, you are touched by The Gods, if you really feel about this sword being Jon's right... maybe you are right." said Lord Stark weakly. "I will keep this sword safe until Jon is deemed competent with the use of longsword."

"T... thank you father." said Jon with a smile. I can't help but notice Lord Stark seems to look as if he has seen a ghost when he looked at Jon. Oh well, that's your fault to have sick fuck imagination at the first place, and this is the guy who usually being a gentle, loving father to all his children.

"However, everybody here must keep this as an utter secret, we did not identify this sword today, and we would call the sword by other name. The Valyrian Steel sword we found today is simply an unnamed sword." said Lord Stark with concern in his face. "This sword is too dangerous to be known here..."

"Father, please just send the sword to The King, I don't want it! The King is the rightful owner of this sword right?"

"If you really do not want this sword, you should sell it and use the money, which was your right Jon. Minimum worth of this sword is five hundred thousand golden dragons, must be a bargain price for The King." I said with a convincing smile. "This is the bare minimum you could do to get rid of this sword, if you do not want it, The Gods would actually understand if you sell it instead of giving that for free. However, I feel that you should be the one to wield Dark Sister."

"We will give this sword another name and claim ignorance on its origin for the meantime." said Lord Stark with pained expression. "I understand that giving the ownership of this sword to another is technically possible according to Theon, but this would be the talk for another day in the future. This is something we need to think about carefully."

"Are you afraid this sword may turn House Baratheon against us my lord?" questioned Rodrik Cassel.

"This is one of my chief concern." said Lord Stark while looking outside the window. "The other is a Targaryen loyalist might attempt to steal this sword and endanger our safety here."

Why did Lord Stark insist the sword would need another name anyway? Oh wait, Lord Stark had sistercon fetish, this is hilarious.

"Whoever wields this sword will have his or her claim upon the Iron Throne bolstered if he or she had the required blood. But considering we are ally of House Baratheon of the first place, why not just inform The King and Lord Hand about this? We have no alternative claimant to the Iron Throne my lord." said Maester Luwin. "If anything, this sword would be safer here, being wielded by your bastard who have nothing to do with The Iron Throne."

"..." Lord Stark stares blankly toward Maester Luwin before sighing as if he remembered something. "The Faith... I am afraid with this tension, this might be used by The Faith of The Seven to slender our name and plunge us into a war between followers of The Old Gods against the faithful of The Seven. High Septon's declaration about Edmure Tully is bad enough; we don't need to have another point of contention between us and the rest of Westeros."

"I see..." said Maester Luwin while scratching his beard. "So this back again to current tension in Riverlands."

"I must admit so." said Lord Stark quickly. "Rodrik, you will hide this sword somewhere safe until Jon finished his training. As long as there are tensions between The Faith of The Seven against followers of The Old Gods, we must try not to provoke them needlessly."

"I understand my lord." said Rodrik solemnly.

"You are all dismissed." said Lord Stark. "Theon, you stay here, we need to talk."

...

I tried not to laugh in front of Lord Stark. Oh well, having your secret fetish revealed is something shameful after all, and Lord Stark might be just an honest man trying to be a good father and not fall upon his temptation. He is a good man, and he deserves to not have his name shamed after all.

"Yes Lord Stark?" I said after Rodrik, Maester Luwin, and Jon already left Lord Stark's study.

"When you said 'are you thinking what I am thinking' do you glean upon something that should not be spoken out loud?" said Lord Stark with utterly serious face. "I know you are touched by The Gods, and you are far too mature to be a simple child."

I can't help but giving Lord Stark a big, sly smile that caused Lord Stark to wince upon seeing my face. "Of course Lord Stark, that was quite obvious... with your insistence on having Dark Sister called by another name..."

"Keep this secret from Jon and the other children, even Arya." said Lord Stark with solemn expression in his face. "There is no need for them to know about it. Swear an oath unto The Old God and The Drowned Goddess that you will not spill this secret."

Oh well, it seems I have caught his most repressed, most sick, and most debauched fantasy. Still, Lord Stark do deserve not to be humiliated like this over his sistercon BDSM imagining of his own children due to 'Dark Sister' name, so I sighed, turned my face into serious, solemn expression and look toward Lord Stark with my right hand raised.

"I swear before the eyes of The Old Gods and The Drowned Goddess, that your secret would be completely safe with me. This is my oath that I will never talk about this to anyone; my mouth shall never reveal your burden and your shame."

"I owe you once again Theon. Thank you." said Lord Stark with visible relief upon his face. "Let's not talk about it anymore."

"I understand Lord Stark."

Lord Stark then dismisses me from his study and I immediately head to my room. Once I get inside, I can't help but grinning like mad over how Lord Stark turned out to be a man troubled with his insane imagination. Well, maybe that's why he got Jon Snow; this guy seems to have something about shameful sexual fetish. Maybe that's why he never talked about Jon Snow's mother as she could turn out to be a famous dominatrix whore who caters her clients' sickest fantasy or something like that.

At least Lord Stark seems to learn from his mistakes and try to be a better man from this point onward. He has noble intention to quash his internal temptations after all, so maybe I should not inform Megumin about the sick fuck fantasy of her father.

Good night.


	14. PART 14 : THEON

**Part 14 : THEON / KAZUMA**

 **Winterfell, 289 AC**

"You get what?" said Robb in disbelief while we're eating our breakfast.

"An unnamed, previously unknown Valyrian Steel sword that dropped from the sky alongside a Weirwood longbow that would be Theon's." said Jon softly

I smirked a bit hearing what Jon just said, oh well, Lord Stark do ask us to not spill about that Valyrian Steel sword's true name and origin due to his secret sistercon fetish.

"If not because of the Hand of The King asked Sansa to be fostered at Riverrun to keep grandfather company, we would be there together." said Robb with tears in his eyes. "Who knows if there would be two Valyrian Steel swords or something else The Old Gods want to give me."

"But isn't Lord Stark said that your sister Sansa being fostered at Riverrun is just big possibility, and not a certainty?" I am genuinely curious with the sudden departure of Robb's (and Megumin's) sister. "She would not be raised as worshiper of The Seven right? She's a..."

"She would... Father agrees because that was Lord Hand's advice to keep grandfather from going weak and sickly. Loneliness could do that to old men, and grandfather needs someone to accompany him in worshiping The Seven." said Robb while looking down. "Unless uncle Edmure end up showing himself before the peace conference ended, that is, no badmouthing The Seven."

"Well, father did forbid us to say something bad about The Seven." said Jon while I curse both Megumin and that useless Goddess Aqua for contributing to this almost-war-state between religions of The Seven and The Old Gods.

"Anyway, as Sansa would still stay with a close family, father said we should not worry too much about her." said Robb with what I could see plainly as forced smile. "Let's back to talk about your brand-new Valyrian Steel sword given by The Old Gods themselves."

"That's just generic, finely crafted Valyrian Steel sword." said Jon awkwardly. "Maybe if you pray hard enough to the Weirwood Tree, the Old Gods might give you something?"

"Hmm..." Robb scratched his head. "Guess that's how you get being close with someone else touched by The Old Gods. Theon, you will accompany us to the Godswoods! Riding lesson could wait!"

"Ok." I think maybe I just need to roll with the flow, even if Robb managed to contact the Old God or even Aqua, at least I could actually *ask* them about what Lord Stark himself inquired about Edmure Tully and his purpose other than plain old saying he's a gullible idiot used for Aqua and her uncle's amusement.

But then, I shuddered, what if they somehow end up knowing that I didn't really know how to contact Aqua at the first place, and I actually loathe to worship her if not because of the possibility that I could lose my inheritance?

...

When we boys arrived at the Godswoods we immediately head to the Heart Tree.

Robb immediately stand at the side of said Weirwood Tree and placed his hand to the trunk with his eyes closed.

Around fifteen minutes later.

"Well, I feel better now." said Robb with a smile. "I'm sure the Old Gods heard my prayer!"

"What kind of gift you wish from the Old Gods Robb?" questioned Jon with raised eyebrows.

"Why? Explosion magic of course!" said Robb, and I shudder while imagining a male version of Megumin running around. "Why Arya is the only one who get explosion magic while I, the heir of House Stark, did not?"

I wish I could simply say blame reincarnation, but I can't, so I just shrug off Robb's literal juvenile wish.

Afterward, we go to stables and start our riding lesson for today.

...

After lunch, we end up walking toward the library for Maester Luwin's regular lesson. As we walk the corridor, my enemy detection skill suddenly activated and I could sense someone detected as hostile is heading toward Lord Stark's study.

"Ssh... call the guards, I see someone just enter your father's study." I said while walked away from our original destination to shadowing the enemy I sensed with my skill.

"But the guards? There should be guards in front of ..." said Robb while following me, but he went silent when he sees two Stark guardsmen already lies on the floor, don't know if they were dead or just knocked unconscious.

"Call the other guards! *Now*!" I gave my order to Robb who immediately dart out and screamed for help.

I sense the thief, intruder, or whatever, is thankfully just a human instead of something worse. From here I could sense her carrying something in her hand too, so...

I look back toward Jon, his face is uncertain, and without the lurk and detection skill, he would be a liability if said thief turned out to be hostile.

"Stay here Jon. I'll try to slow down this thief."

Jon only nods while I try to found something that is either rope shaped or could be used as projectile upon the fallen bodies of the guards. Speaking of which, after touching them and ensuring they are still breathing, the guards seems to be knocked out using nonviolent means, possibly something in their drinks seeing they already dozed off in deep slumber.

I can't found any rope shaped object upon the guards to use bind with, and undressing their belts would be more of a hassle, so I simply took one of the guards' axes (as their spears are too big), use lurk, and entered the empty study room of Lord Stark.

Much to my surprise, the intruder turned out to be a woman dressing in a maidservant's clothes, I never know this woman before, as her face is someone I don't even recall. She appears to also hear Robb's scream about intruder, and already tried to sneak out from the still dark room. Of course, due to my night vision and lurk skill, I would bet she could not see me while I could see her. And from my observation, other than the bag she carried in her hand, she seems to not carrying any kind of weapon.

"What are you doing here in Lord Stark's study, thief?"

My voice startled the thief, who end up abandoning stealth and just run out of the study with the bag she held in her hand. As she goes out of the door and toward the corridor, she immediately realizes Jon Snow is there, but she kept running.

Jon Snow, recognizing the woman must be a thief or something, yelled at her to stop, but said woman, upon seeing he's just a six years old boy, shoved Jon hard that he end up hitting his head to the wall before falling on the floor.

Oh well, I never hope this would turn violent, but an adult woman hitting a little child like that is one thing I could not ignore. I held the axe in my hand in throwing position, and aim for her feet.

"Snipe!"

The woman apparently realize what I just done and try to dodge by lowering her posture as if she guessed I would aim for her head or something. Bad luck for her, as the axe end up lodged in her waist with a scrunch. She screamed in pain as she falls crumpled to the ground like a rag doll, frantically try grasping the blood coming from her waist while looking at me in terror.

Come on, this is not my fault; you dare to hit a six years old boy first! At least I was not deliberately aim at your head.

Jory Cassel comes with some guards, and more could be heard running into the ruckus. Knowing that she could not escape, I go to Jon and checked if he is alright.

"Wow Theon, you're really good with throwing things." Jon grinned while I helped him to stand up.

Two guards seize the thief's arms while another held her feet, so she can't escape. Jory then took the bag, which seems to hold only a few parchments before closing whatever is inside back.

"This woman is a spy." said Jory while he then pulls off the axe lodged in said spy's waist. "And I must say this is quite an impressive axe throw squid, this spy would never be able to walk again, as you literally cut deep into her waist bone."

"I actually aimed for her feet."

The spy looked at me in terror, her face obviously indicate severe pain, but aside of that expression, she did not speak anything when another guard forcibly strip her skirt before using that as impromptu bandage to stop her wound from bleeding further.

...

Lord Stark is pacing inside his study with his face set in a grim expression, he has re-checked that nothing else was stolen, but found some documents placed at the wrong place. Rodrik Cassel is at his side, while we boys are ordered to sit in front of the table.

"So you squid are the one who spotted the spy first?" questioned Rodrik with a smile. "She must be a careless wench, having little boys able to peek at her at the first place."

"Aye ser." I said while did not really know if I was already in trouble or would be up for praise. Apparently the woman is really a spy, and she stole some very important documents about something, and has been suspected on peeking on more.

"That does not match with how she carefully spiked the guards' drink with sweetsleep and how nobody see her entering Maester Luwin's turret at the first place, seeing she has stolen Arya's written spells there." said Lord Stark. "Other than how easily she got caught by the boys, everything indicates she was an experienced spy of some sort."

"The spy only worked as maidservant here for six days. She is of Northmen descent, but her accent seems to be closer to Valemen accent. And we found this inside her cloth." said Jory Cassel, who entered the room with a small scrap of parchment with seven pointed star inside a circle painted upon it, there seems to be some writing at the back of the picture. "This is a charm of The Crone; she is one of the damned Seven worshipers."

"Then she must not be given mercy, for she has seen not only Maester Luwin's writings about Arya's spells and sayings, but also even more sensitive information." said Lord Stark grimly. "For if this spread to the South, we will risk war against the rest of Westeros."

I gulped involuntarily as this meant this woman has looked at the written form of Megumin's chuuni bullshit, and she must pay with her life.

"And I must say thank you to you again Theon, for your work on stopping the spy." said Lord Stark grimly. "What you just do saved many from a possibility of pointless war. However, to throw an axe rather recklessly, you may hurt another..."

Uh-oh, here comes the lecture...

"She attacked me first father, Theon only attacked her afterward." said Jon. "There are nobody else near us, Theon did the right thing."

Lord Stark's mouth turned into a sad smile, before closing his eyes. "I am not speaking of what he has done, but what I feared he will do if not warned at the first place. I am aware of the Ironborn game of finger dance, and I did not want my children to play that kind of game here."

"What?"

"As someone who has faced Ironborn axe-throwers in battle, I must say that this kind of weapon use is supremely dangerous and far from being a game. While you may still practice your axe throwing at the range, I forbid you to teach my sons finger dance."

It seems that Lord Stark is actually not mad at me for what is essentially crippling a woman, she is a spy after all, but he is very concerned about me teaching his sons to do the finger dance, which I never done before. I have seen even the rest of my family however, including my sister Asha playing that godsdamned insane game. But even Balon Greyjoy forbid his children from playing that game until the age of eight, wow, speaking of dodging an axe thrown at me...

"But father..." whined Robb.

"Why we can't learn..." added Jon.

"No, this is too dangerous for children." said Lord Stark while he looks at me. "I don't know what is your father thinking to teach you such skill in such young age, but then you are of Ironborn stock, so..."

I grinned as not even my father is crazy enough to teach me finger dancing. "I am not insane enough to teach your children finger dance at the first place Lord Stark. I promise not to teach them that."

"Good, you all dismissed."

I am genuinely curious about what else the spy had seen outside of Megumin's chuuni bullshit, but considering 'The Seven are Demons' alone could spark a war; maybe I should not try to dig deeper into it.

...

Next morning, I rode on toward a small holdfast in the hills with some Men-at-Arms of Winterfell to see the spy beheaded.

Robb and Jon are apparently not yet permitted to see the execution of the spy, or so to speak, that I end up being the physically the youngest person to attend this execution. Megumin joked this morning about executing the spy with her explosion instead, but Lord Stark's sharp glare and grim expression caused her to cry while saying sorry for her apparently tasteless joke to her father.

Nobody is talking about what else the spy has done outside of stealing written chuuni bullshit spells and being follower of The Seven. But when considering the chuuni bullshit also includes something that could spark a war (The Seven are Demons), maybe this is for the best.

Said spy bound hand and foot in front of the holdfast, chained to a post of some sort, lying at her side awaiting her death. Her face seems resigned at her fate, as according to Jory, she utterly refuses to speak anything, even under duress. She has been given new cloth to keep her modesty, as her skirt has been torn off to keep her from dying out of blood loss yesterday.

I sat stoically at the side of Rodrik Cassel, I already seen men and women slain in droves back at Pyke. But this time is the first time I will see someone die because of my own action in this world.

Lord Stark sat solemnly on his horse, his eyes are grim and his expression subdued.

There were questions asked toward the spy, but she utterly refuse to speak anything to Lord Stark. Finally, Lord Stark gave a command, and two of the guards dragged the woman to a stump in the center of the square. They forced her head down onto the wood.

Lord Stark dismounted and Jory brought for the heirloom sword of The Starks, Ice, a Valyrian Steel greatsword, which is almost as tall as Lord Stark himself.

Lord Stark took hold of the greatsword with both hands and said. "In the name of Robert of House Baratheon, the first of his name, King of the Andals and the Rhoynar and First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm. By the word of Eddard of House Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, I do sentence you to die."

"Keep your rein on your pony." whispered Rodrik while Lord Stark hoisted the greatsword high above his head.

The spy's head fall off with a single stroke, blood sprayed out across the grass. Some horse neighed but everyone is capable on holding their mounts.

The woman's head rolled as it came up to a halt when hitting some root or something. Said head has a rather resigned expression, and when it stopped, her eyes looks directly unto myself.

Oh well, I have seen worse, and died far worse deaths than her in my past lives, continue then.

"You are unfazed by this." said Rodrik softly. "Well, you have seen the fighting in war, so there's no surprise."

I only rolled my eyes upward upon hearing his statement.

"She died without saying anything. The last thing she had done in her cell was drawing a seven pointed star with her own blood. We suspect she was sent by The Faith to spy upon us."

"Wait what?" The Faith of The Seven already starts spying upon us at Winterfell? Oh joy, what else can I expect next?

"It was very likely squid, she was a very loyal, or should I say, a very faithful one, for she kept her tongue silent at all time, not even once betraying her master. Shame that The Wall is unavailable for women, and sending her to Silent Sisters may end up sending her back to her employers."

"My father has his own headsmen, while he boasted to slay men left and right personally in combat, he never done that in an execution like this."

"This is the way of the First Men of The North, we hold to the belief that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take someone's life, you owe to do it personally." said Rodrik while a guard collected the woman's head and two other carried her body to somewhere else.

"Let's head back to Winterfell. We could only hope there will be no such things in the future." said Lord Stark with pained expression on his voice.

...


	15. PART 15 : EDMURE

**PART 15 : EDMURE TULLY**

 **Golden Tooth, 289 AC**

Roughly three weeks passed after we swore our oath of brotherhood toward at the side of Tumblestone River. We have reached Westerlands two weeks ago, and currently we're still staying at a merchant encampment located west of Golden Tooth.

How did we get here without anyone noticing? That was actually rather simple. Once we get out of Riverlands, I sold my blue and red cloak in exchange of two plain round shields for us to use (that later painted blue with symbol of Axis Order as our sigil). We used a huge portion of my money to procure gambeson for Aeron and mail coifs to hide our identity better in our line of work. I still wear my armor from Riverrun, but mostly worn it under a rough brown cloak with the Tully tabard replaced by blue tabard with symbol of Axis Order, who also sewn upon Aeron's gambeson as well.

Speaking of how neat and beautiful Aeron's handiwork in modifying our clothes, even with cheap materials, I can't help but recognize that those are of superior quality compared to whatever sewing and embroidery made by my own sisters and even their old Septa who teach them at the first place.

Our current arsenal initially limited to my own arming sword, my own longbow, Aeron's white staff, Aeron's driftwood club, and the two daggers we had upon our persons. As soon as we arrived at Golden Tooth, however, Aeron bought an axe head and convert his staff into a battle worthy long axe.

With all our knightly equipment obtained, the last thing we need is believable alias to introduce ourselves to potential employers, so I took the name of Kermit Axis while Aeron took the name of Harmund Axis. We claim ourselves as hedge knights coming from Knightly House dispossessed from our land when our house sided with Prince Rhaegar in the Trident. These turned out to be genius disguises as nobody asked further about our pedigree than looking at us with pity in their eyes, even if they mentioned that my mail armor and weapons are of too high quality for humble hedge knights, dispossessed House is another matter entirely. Unfortunately, my father was somewhat infamous for that, dispossessing some of the lesser knightly houses for punishment for picking the wrong side in Robert's Rebellion.

...

The castle on the hill stood silently overlooking the sole hill road between the Riverlands and Westerlands. Both of us worn our coif and masked our face with neckerchief, in full armor like this, nobody could recognize us.

And so far, our work was neither glamorous nor particularly dangerous. Being hired to guard a merchant encampment downhill from the castle, all we need to do is mostly stand with our sword and axe, sometimes took turns patrolling the camp at night, and most importantly, ensure nobody steals the merchant's wares. The merchant himself has his own share of personal guards, but he also hired four hedge knights (including us) to maintain some sort of prestige within the eyes of his customers. If only he knew two of the 'hedge knights' he just hired are heir of Riverrun and direct member of House Greyjoy, he may end up dead because of the shock.

Yeah, our job is the bottom rung job for knights, thought to be the lower sellsword's job, even when the pay is actually good. Many hedge knights I know back in Riverlands will deem this job as dishonorable and skip this offer, looking for more risky but also more dashing job such as bandit hunting or fighting at tourney. But of course, with no bandits plaguing the countryside, and no tourney currently held in Westerland, we have no choice than to accept the job, as whatever coin left in my pouch back then, cannot really be used to continue living after we bought Aeron's stuffs.

"Ser Kermit, ser Harmund, may I ask for your help?" said the merchant who employed us as he walked outside his tent. His name is Korath Johari of Pentos, a well-off merchant who sold spices and luxury goods around Westeros this time of the year. A short, fat man with clean-shaven face who speak in soft and polite manner, but also apparently knew his trade well as he is rich enough to afford a big merchant encampment for his caravan.

"Yes?" Aeron answered while looking if anything was amiss. Aside of our employer having a deep frown upon his face, nothing seems to be off place.

"Last night, a man claiming to be Lord Westerling, followed by three men who claimed to be his knights bought a box of jewelry, six bolts of silk, and four jars full of saffron, but apparently he left with his men without even paying for their wares when I was preoccupied with another noble customers."

We exchanged glances at the merchant's statement before lowering our neckerchiefs. I remember that last night, someone who use clothing typical of higher nobility was indeed coming here with three of his men to bought something he said as a gift for his lady wife and daughters. We see them leaving the camp with the wares mounted on their horses, but we speak nothing because we are unaware of his thievery. I can't help but wonder if he was the real Lord Westerling at the first place, since this is exactly the lowest form of thievery. Also, impersonating a noble as high ranked as Lord of The Crag alone would mean death if they were caught in the act.

To be honest, I never met Gawen Westerling or knew him outside of basic knowledge of who-is-lord-of-who, but it was unlikely for real Gawen Westerling or anyone directly related to him to resort on such low crime at the first place.

"This is a very serious accusation, Johari. Have you tried to bring this before Lord Lefford as this happened in his land?" I said while raising my eyebrows.

"I have spoken with Lord Lefford for their thievery; he believed that those villains must be brigands impersonating Lord Westerling himself. He gave me suggestion to hire some hedge knights or sellswords to recover my stolen wares and sent those brigands into Hell." said Johari softly while looking toward the Golden Tooth uphill. "Lord Lefford said he currently cannot spare his knights or his troops to catch those thieves because how the neighboring Riverlands is almost at the state of uproar due to the disappearance of Edmure Tully."

Both of us exchanged nervous glances, but then Aeron just shrug his shoulder and I understand that nobody actually suspect a humble hedge knight to be actually the heir of Riverrun at the first place. Maybe my father thought I was sheltered by one of his bannermen or something like that.

"Sounds good, so what is your offer?" said Aeron politely, as this meant we could get a significant amount of money for what is basically tracking and killing bandits, or at least, some extra money for our accommodation if we can't get a hold of the bandits in question.

"Ten golden dragons up front, this should be enough for you if you want to hire some additional help." said Johari while giving me a pouch full of coins. "Lord Lefford himself also offers extra two golden dragons if you could bring the head of Lord Westerling's impersonator here, and another one would be added if you brought the impersonator alive for justice."

"If you could return the wares I lost, depending on their conditions, I will add maximum of a six golden dragons for the jewelry, maximum of three golden dragons for each bolt of silk, and maximum of a two golden dragons for each jar of saffron, for maximum total of thirty two golden dragons once my wares is returned in reasonably good conditions. I know you two are honest men, so I trust you to return them in whole." said Johari with a solemn expression on his face. "Once you completed this task, I am sure there will be a Lord who would be interested to retain your trusty services as landed knights."

Ah well, while it would be a motivation for most of the hedge knights, considering that we're actually on the run at the first place, getting landed may meant trouble as someone is bound to investigate who is the newly landed knights of Westerlands, but then, we could have good use for the money in our holy mission to find Darkness.

"You have our oath as knights; we would not betray your trust." I said in a confident tone while Aeron nods at my words.

"We swear in front of the Old Gods and the Drowned Goddess Aqua that we would see your wares' return, and dispense justice upon those villains." Aeron said while I remember how the others around us perceive our belief in the Drowned Goddess Aqua and the Old Gods. Most only raised their eyebrows and thought us as some sort of syncretic cultists who combined the aspect of the Drowned God with the Old Gods and turned the former into a Goddess, but they also mostly left us alone as we meant no harm upon them at the first place.

As long as we don't use our magic in the open, we would be safe.

Yes, there was a certain accident when we met with a group of barefoot begging brothers led by middle-aged wandering Septon, who suspects us as abominable magic using heathens when they see me doing the party trick magic at the tavern. The other tavern goers actually shoo them out, while the Maester of Golden Tooth, who just happen to attend the tavern at the very same afternoon, told everyone that my 'magic' is nothing more than clever use of hidden pistons filled with water and positioning toward the sunlight like many mummers has done. That really saved my hide as I was drunk enough back then to carelessly use my magic up in the open. It was nice that everyone here now think my party trick magic was just some sort of clever sleight of hand, thanks to the Maester again.

"May we ask you to adjust our payment a bit in exchange of helping us to procure something we need?" said Aeron while he remembers about something that we are currently not being able to communicate with the Drowned Goddess herself to guide our holy mission. "If you could procure us some canvases, brushes, and complete set of artisan paints, you could dock our payment in exchange of the goods."

"Why would you want such goods?" said Johari while raising his eyebrows.

"My brother usually spent his pastime by painting, but we lost our painting supplies somewhere in our journey."

"Hmm, if you are an aspiring artist, why not try to go to Essos where your talent would be received better?"

"I am sorry Johari, but we are currently not interested in moving to Essos. We are of Knightly house origin, and we want to continue our living as Knights here." said Aeron politely.

"I see... well, you would still get the ten golden dragons up front. I will try to procure the art supplies you need and those would be given after you complete your task. Think that as bonus from me for the honest work you have done so far." said the merchant with a smile. "With such heavy load upon their horses, they could not go that far from here."

"Alright, we will pursue them as quickly as possible." I said with a smile before raising our neckerchiefs again.

"I wish both of you good luck ser Kermit and ser Harmund."

...

 **Ruined Old Mine, hill road to Ashemark, 289 AC**

Three days has passed.

After two days spent running blindly toward the northwest, where the tavern goers last seen the four men riding with large bundles mounted upon their horses. We almost lost their track, if not because the blessed coincidence where we met a grumbling innkeeper who complained about a very stingy group claiming to be nobles who sleep at his inn yesterday without even ordering any food or ale, paid only the barest amount of silver stags required to board a room. We asked if these men were carrying a lot of luggage, and said innkeeper confirmed our suspicion while telling us that they were last seen walked alongside their horses upon the steep hill road toward Ashemark. As they need to carry their heavy load uphill, they can't ride their horses, so they could not be that far from here.

We ordered foods and wine before debating on the merit on trying to pursue them in the dark of the night. Aeron wanted us to go as quickly as possible while I argue about letting our horses (and ourselves) get a proper rest.

"The quicker we could catch them and return Jofari's wares, the faster I could get my hands on art supplies again, so we could commune with the Drowned Goddess!" said Aeron with a passion. "They are walking uphill while we could ride our horses."

"And what will you do if our horses end up falling due to exhaustion? This is not something you could heal with your magic, I'm afraid. And it's not like they would go that far with the entire load, even if they walked all night."

"Good point, well, its settled then." said Aeron while downing his entire cup of wine and pouring himself a fresh one from the bottle afterward. We had cheap (compared to what I had at Riverrun, mind you), twenty-eight pennies a bottle wine instead of the usual cheaper ale, as we have ten unspent golden dragons to sustain our journey. Considering we sustain the last two days with only dried meat, stale bread, and water, it was something expected after finally met with an inn such as this.

"Anyway, if they turned out to be more than four bandits, it would be unwise to take them directly. We need to hire some sellswords." I mumbled while digging into my roasted pork and vegetables, remembering the ten golden dragons that still lie unspent in my pocket.

"But where are the other sellswords?" said Aeron while scanning our surroundings. "Oi innkeeper, is there any sellsword available to hire here?"

The innkeeper hears us, as he roused from his former seat at the corner toward our table.

"No sers, you are the first hedge knights arrive in our village this week, most of them going south to Highgarden for Lord Tyrell will hold a tourney in honor of King Robert's victory around two months from now, at the new year, there will be larger tourney in Lannisport held by Lord Tywin to commemorate the same victory." said the innkeeper while Aeron rolled his eyes, apparently remembering the ill-fated rebellion his brother (and himself) has done. But yeah, at least we get the time of big tourneys where we could win ridiculously high prizes.

"In that case, we would have no choice but try to take them with only two of us..." said Aeron while downing his wine again. "Shame that we're currently far from the shores, I'm sure there would be some reavers that could be persuaded... Ompf!"

I nudged Aeron on his rib, hard.

"The Ironborn would not dare to sail near Westerlands coast again sers." said the innkeeper with a smile, not knowing 'ser Harmund Axis' is actually one.

"In that case, are there any men here that could be persuaded to help? Some strong farmhands or woodsmen that know their way with axes?" I said while jingling a pouch filled with silver coins.

"I would like to help if I were younger, but I am an old man already and last time I hold a spear was back at war of ninepenny kings, levied under previous Lord Marbrand." said the innkeeper before he scratched his thin white beard and continue his talk. "There might be some youth who could be persuaded under the right price, but I don't know if they're available in such short time."

"Well then? We will try to scout them first, four untrained bandits against two knights is a good odd in our favor." I smiled while remembering that Aeron do has his healing magic, and in a pinch, I could also use my water magic to take them off guard. "But if they were a large group of them, we'll come back here and hire some help."

We still have eight silver stags and twenty-three pennies combined between us. Our wage back when guarding the merchant encampment is a 'lofty' one silver stag for a day each, but that also goes to our lodging, food, ale, and fodder too, so it was bare existence for us. Yes I am aware of the other hedge knights and sellswords who could live with less than what we used to spent, but alas, being used to be nobles belonging to ruling houses; sometimes you just can't settle for the cheapest bread and ale.

"Alright innkeeper, we'll stay here for the night."

...

This morning, after paying the innkeeper four silver stags and ten pennies for our lodging, foods, wine, and fodder; we wear our armor before riding up along the hill road.

Our horses have rested, fed well, and carry only armored man instead of large bolts of silk and spices. As we could ride our horses, we should be much faster than the bandits who are forced to walk alongside their pack horses. If we pressed on, we might catch up with them today.

At midday, we see freshly cut hedges, cloth scraps, and wood ash from what must be their camp last night, a rather small one. That's good, as their size indicate they should not be more than four bandits encumbered with their heavy loot.

While we stop to eat our lunch (that is some dried meat and leftover bread we carried from the inn), I strung my longbow while making sure the arrows are within reach upon my saddlebags. If we could take down one or two bandits at range, that would significantly tilt the odds in our favor, for we are trained fighters and the bandits likely never have any kind of formal training. This should be an easy job after all.

...

The sun is already low on the horizon when we catch a glimpse of three men entering a ruined old mine further uphill, carrying large things covered with plain brown cloth, there is another man standing near the horses alongside of a pile of what must be the stolen wares of Johari.

"We better dismount and try taking them by surprise." I whispered toward Aeron before we move our horse into a clearing, dismount, and tie them to a tree.

From what I see, the bandits are armed with swords, and one of them definitely wear polished plate and mail armor under sand colored cloak that fit better for a noble instead of a lowly scum like him. Those must be either stolen somewhere from their rightful owners, or looted off the battlefield. That's why Johari seem to believe him as Lord Westerling, as his disguise is really very convincing at the first glance.

Aeron checked his long axe, his shield strapped on his back. My longbow is ready but I'm not sure if I could shoot one of them from this range, so I decided to keep my bow on hand, my shield strapped at the back, with arming sword hanging upon my belt.

...

Using the shadows as cover, we sneak our way behind the shrubs and trees. As we come closer, I could see that the bandits actually wear mail armor under their cloak. Oh shit, these bandits turned out to be rather well armored; maybe they are deserters or something?

"Shall we return and hire some help? Each of them is better equipped than you." I whispered to Aeron, who only raise his eyebrows.

"What is dead may never die." replied Aeron with a smirk. "I'm no greenlander coward. If we could take them by surprise, that armor would be ours as we paid the iron price."

"Just try to not get killed first, you have healing magic, but it can't be used on dead man right?"

"Let's get closer and kill the one watching the horses. You would have another chance to shot your bow before we're getting up close." said Aeron, and we continue to walk slowly under the shadows.

...

"That should be enough my lord, all we need to do is close the entrance of this mine, and we could retrieve them at later time." said one of the bandit to another who impersonate the noble.

"If not because my wife told me to do this to cover our debts, we would never doing this dishonorable business at the first place sers." said the noble impersonator.

I rolled my eyes upon hearing their words, this is ridiculous, and it seems that for somewhat reasons, they never break their characters, oh well.

Aeron sneak out toward the side clearing to flank them while signing me to start the ambush. I drew my longbow, aiming for the bandit who stands near the horses. This is the most important thing and I literally cannot miss my aim, or we will be very messed up in the melee, thankfully with just fifteen feet between us...

*SCHWAFF*

My arrow landed squarely at the bandit's neck, should be a sure kill shot as I took another arrow before drawing my bow as quickly as possible.

"BRIGANDS! AAARRGGHHH!" said one of the bandits before my arrow lodged upon his belly with a clink. Not a fatal shot due to his armor, but should be enough to take him out of the fight for a while, at least.

"WHAT IS DEAD MAY NEVER DIE!" Aeron screamed as he brought his axe downward toward the unsuspecting bandit in a fierce two handed chop, it was a clean hit upon the unprotected head, another certain kill.

"I... IRONBORNS?" said the noble impersonator while drawing his sword to block Aeron's incoming chop before kicking him squarely in the belly. "YOU PIRATE SCUMS WILL PAY FOR THIS!"

"WHAT? YOU ARE CRIMINALS YOURSELVES, SCUM!" I said while drawing my sword and shield before charging toward the noble impersonator.

But before I could take him by surprise, the downed bandit with my arrow at his belly grasped my leg and swung his sword toward myself. Wait a moment, these bandits are experienced fighters.

I barely dodge the slash as I found myself rolling on the ground. The noble impersonator helped the other survivor to stand while holding his sword in front of him in a stance that clearly belongs to an experienced and trained fighter. Oh well the Bandits must be deserters or renegade Men-At-Arms then...

"You won't get away with this, Ironborn!" said the noble impersonator. "Your ilks are supposed to never attack here after the Greyjoy surrenders! There will be no quarter for you!"

I stared toward Aeron, who could only sheepishly grin behind his neckerchief as he ready himself for another attack. Next time, he should not use his traditional warcry as this may cause too many questions.

"Well, we should just kill all of them instead of handing out the impersonator to Lord Lefford." said Aeron in awkward tone.

"Him being alive will earn us an extra golden dragon you idiot!" I said in irritation while readying

"Well, you know my dishonorable crime, and you will pay with your head upon that, scum!" said the noble impersonator while the other bandit pulls out the arrow from his belly.

"Dishonorable? Don't make me laugh you despicable impostor!" I said while charging the impersonator together with Aeron before the other bandit gets a second wind. "Family! Duty! Honor!"

"You lowly sellswords use Tully warcry now?" said the noble impersonator while deflecting Aeron's chop with a practiced ease before blocking my thrust with a bind. As the other bandit ignored his pain and charged me with his sword, I can't help but break the blade lock and hope Aeron could do better.

"Fuck my mouth!" I said in regret realizing what I just said before, all while barely blocking the other bandit's surprisingly fluid attack despite being wounded. I could see Aeron's gambeson torn at his left hip by the noble impersonator's sudden thrust, blood flowing from the stab wound. From the way they fight, they are no pushovers and instead of fighting some common deserter or renegade Men-At-Arms, apparently we're fighting professional, experienced sellswords who is far better than most knights in their fighting prowess.

"DIE SCUM!" said the noble impersonator while suddenly change his target from Aeron toward me. I raised my shield in surprise as he binds my sword with his own, then the other bandit move to attack my unprotected right side.

Facing a certain doom like this, I have no choice but pool the magic power in my mouth and spray him with torrent of water up close.

*BWOOOOSSHHHH*

I have tried using my water magic with my mouth before as some sort of party trick back at the tavern near Golden Tooth. Everyone thought I must have way to hold that much water in my stomach, and never at this intensity, obviously. That was just for fun, but now I'm using this as my own life depends on it.

Apparently, my showing of water magic startled the noble impersonator enough that his sword slipped out from the blade lock. Aeron managed to swing his long axe toward the impersonator, aiming for his unprotected head, but he dodged somewhat at the last time, the axe head hitting the right shoulder plate instead of his head.

The pain from the hit is enough for him to lower his sword, so I follow up the opening with a slash against his neck. Too bad, he still managed to parry my blade using his left armguard, and with a sudden, practiced jerk of his right hand, piercing my left shoulder with his sword under the loose joint of the mail.

"FUCK!" I said while I dropped my shield and reflexively grab my wounded shoulder with my right hand. His stab is deep and painful, I can't use my left arm at this moment due to whatever thing it severed, and it must be a very serious wound.

The other bandit tried to attack my vulnerable right side but Aeron managed to move behind my back and slashed the bandit with downward chop to his right hand, causing him to lose some fingers, maybe, and dropped his sword. Before his fall, however, he managed to grab my coif and suddenly I am as bare headed as the bandits were.

"You... you're a Tully!" said the noble impersonator. Wait a moment, how could a lowly bandit such as him knew my face?

"Fuck! No!" I said while angrily slash him across his chest with my sword, knock the impersonator down on the ground but not killing him due to his armor. At my side, Aeron managed to land a clean hit upon the downed bandit, leaving the noble impersonator as the sole survivor of his group as Aeron limped back toward my position.

"Water... and I fought alongside Hoster and Brynden! You must be Edmure Tully!" said the noble impersonator.

"How could a lowly scum such as you fight alongside... wait a minute... you're the real Gawen Westerling all along?! What the fuck? Why did you resort to such lowly crime as to steal from a merchant at the first place?"

"And why are you consorting with an Ironborn?" said the noble impersonator that turned out to be actually not impersonator all along but Gawen Westerling, the Lord of The Crag himself.

"Shit, he knew too much about us! Let's just kill him!" said Aeron while he tried to smash the Westerling's head with his long axe, but he managed to roll out from the clumsy attack. He tried to stand as I tried to stab him, resulting in my sword piercing the joint under his right shoulder. He managed to move out despite blood coming out from under his shoulder, his left-hand covering the place where I stabbed him before.

"Ahh... fuck... why can't you just sit down and die like common bandit you pretend to be?" I said in irritation. "Well cutting your head off and brought it to Leo Lefford may prove problematic if I gave him the real head of Gawen Westerling. But at the other side, you knew about my identity, so..."

"Why can't we just cut his head and get our rewards?" questioned Aeron.

"Because if we sent the real head of Gawen fucking Westerling, we would be thought to be the one masterminding this thievery instead! They will think we took this fucking Westerling hostage, has our accomplices playing their parts, before returning the wares and the head of Lord Westerling for extra payments! Dammit! The only way to have everyone knew the real Gawen Westerling is the real fucking thief who stole Johari's wares is by bringing him alive for justice! But he recognized me!"

Looking at how we banter between ourselves, Gawen Westerling tried to run, but I realized him running before he got far and stabbed him at the joint of his leg armor. As he crumpled on the ground, I kicked his sword away toward Aeron, and place the tip of my blade upon his throat.

"So what should we do now?" questioned Aeron while helping me to pin this son of a bitch to the ground.

"Fix my left arm first!" I said while Aeron quickly move his other hand toward my shoulder and before long, the wound stitched itself and stopped bleeding. I tried moving my left arm and found them working fine again.

I formed a fist with my left and clocked this son of a bitch squarely at his face with my formerly crippled arm, breaking his nose and cause blood to drip out from his mouth.

"That's for crippling my arm you motherfucker!" I said to his shocked face. All while Aeron stand and heal the wound upon his hip.

"By the Old Gods and the New! You... you two could really use magic!" said the Westerling with fear upon his face.

As he realized that unlike what happens to him, we could heal our wounds, the fear upon Gawen Westerling's face become more and more visible. Oh well, this is all despite the sun has already set, and we're standing under the moonlight. Two men against four in an ambush, three men died, two men left standing, and one man lies helpless on the ground.

"Alright, we'll just kill him, return the wares, and claimed that the impostor has fallen into the mine or something like that that left his body unrecoverable. Take our rewards and get the fuck out of here before anyone realizes Lord Westerling and three of his knights will never come home." I said in irritation while preparing to swing my sword to chop this motherfucker's neck.

"Wait... I worship The Old Gods just like you... I'll keep your secret! I'll take the Black and admit my crimes! Just... just let me live!" said Gawen Westerling in fear. "Let me live!"

"Aren't you a coward now? Having you die right here, right now, would be better for your family, as their honor would not be stained with your lowly crime!" I said while pointing out the obvious. "You have no honor anyway, so who could guarantee you will keep your mouth shut?"

"This is all my wife's plan!" cried Gawen Westerling pathetically. "My family keeps the Old Gods! We are your fellow First Men! We pray toward the Weirwood Tree! Please have mercy!"

Upon hearing his claim, Aeron and I exchanged glances. Oh well...

"I swear I would not tell anyone in Westerlands that you were here! I swear to admit all my crimes and take the Black! I swear in front of The Old Gods!"

"Can't tell if he's trying to cajole us with sympathy or being a coward who is afraid to die." said Aeron while he shrugs his shoulder. "But the D... Old Gods did advise mercy upon surrendering foes."

"Hmm... let's just tie him up upon one of the horses, load the wares back, and return to Golden Tooth, shall we? We will have our time deciding this fucker's fate on our way. And we're also taking your armors and swords for ourselves!"

...


	16. PART 16 : EDMURE

**PART 16 : EDMURE TULLY**

 **Hill road from Ashemark to Golden Tooth, 289 AC**

After his surrender, we decided that we should not spend the night at the ruined old mine. In our private conversations, Aeron said his concern if Westerling has another group of underlings to retrieve the wares, and I agree with his assessment. You did not try to flee when you are too wounded like that unless you are certain there will be help along your way.

"Can... can you both swear an oath not to take my life in exchange of I am admitting my crimes and agree to take the Black?" stuttered Gawen Westerling while we're eyeing his prone form.

"Swear first that you would not attempt to escape again and to keep my identity secret." maybe this guy is really impoverished and only steal as last resort to cover his debt or something, Aeron did tell me that giving mercy, especially to those willing to take the Black, is the honorable way.

"I swear my oath in front of the... the Old Gods and New that I, Gawen Westerling, will confess my crimes, not attempt to escape... and keep your identity secret, Lord Edmure..." said Westerling with fear still etched upon his face. Aeron look toward me and we raise our right hands.

"We swear our oath upon the Old Gods and the Drowned Goddess that your life would be unharmed as long as you are under our protection. We will take you to the Golden Tooth to face justice. This is our oath."

"Wait... Drowned Goddess?" questioned Gawen Westerling.

"Yeah, the Drowned God is actually Drowned Goddess, and she's part of the Old Gods' family. She and the Old God of The Greens are currently sealed away beyond the Wall by The Night's King and The Great Other to bring The Second Long Night. We are in a Holy mission from the Drowned Goddess herself to find Darkness and save humanity." said Aeron solemnly. "Serving at the Wall is the honorable option as you will devote your life to fight Demonic invasion.

"..." I feel if this Westerling almost wanted to snort at our claim, but we both still has sword and axe, so maybe that's why he keeps his silence.

Still, Westerling's earlier attempt to run away despite his wounds support our suspicions that maybe he has other accomplices to retrieve the wares. His sudden admittance of 'worshiping the Old Gods' is also suspicious, but as we cannot determine if he is lying, we are forced to do the honorable thing for this thieving fucker and let him keep his life, for now.

"Your claim seems so sudden and forced Westerling, for you to worship the Old Gods..." I said while we tie his hands on his body after stripping him off his armor.

"I swear... I swear by The Old Gods... you have no need to bind..."

"We'll give you the benefit of doubt, as the life of an Old God worshiper is sacred, but we are not stupid enough to let you walk without being secured." said Aeron while after checking if the bindings are secured, decided to be generous and heal Gawen Westerling of his wounds at the right shoulder, his chest, and at his leg. "You should be able to walk again."

"T... thank you ser..."

"Harmund Axis. I am the prophet of the Drowned Goddess." proclaimed Aeron as he was smart enough that claiming his Greyjoy name would prove more trouble than worth, sometimes.

"Thank you ser Harmund, we are First Men House like you and Lord Edmure, believe me, you could visit my castle..."

"Forget it; we will bring you for justice at Golden Tooth, not anywhere else... And call me ser Kermit, I am currently a humble hedge knight, and we need the money to accomplish the task given to us by the Old Gods themselves."

"I steal to cover my family's debt! Please believe me Lord Edmure! At least I am not into violent robbery or anything worse!"

"Reaving by force of arms is more honorable than thievery by deception." said Aeron sternly. "If you pay the iron price, you are honest with your intent, but to... Omph!"

I nudged Aeron hard on the rib again while telling him to quiet blabbering things about more Ironborn things. Sure, the Drowned Goddess may permit piracy and reaving upon nonbelievers because pirates are awesome, but that was for another day.

"Harmund is an Ironborn prophet of the Drowned Goddess, he never forgets his roots." I tried to give Westerling a rather passable explanation. Good thing he dyed his hair and beard blue and still wear coif on his head.

"The corruption upon true religion of the First Men was done by the Seven-Faced Demons and their Andal followers, for the Andals not only invade Westeros but also drive out the source of non-demonic magic. They corrupt the religions and customs of the First Men at the same time. The Andal invasion attempt to Iron Isles was repelled, but at the cost of many dead drowned men, that our ancestors end up drifted from the true religion." said Aeron while Gawen Westerling seem content with his explanation.

"And my bindings?"

"Well, security measures Westerling, if you keep your words, we will later unbind you, just escorting you back to Golden Tooth for justice will suffice, but you need to prove your words first." I said while helping the tied up Westerling to ride one of the horses tied to the tree.

After that, we mount all the wares and loots on top of the three other horses. We managed to put all the wares on them, so we are not encumbered with anything upon our personal horses.

Anyway, due to their Lord's surrender, Aeron laid the three dead knights of House Westerling inside the mine (after stripping them of their chainmail armors of course), placing their cloak on top of then, and planted two of their swords with the blades crossed in front of the ruined old mine to signify that there lies bodies of men who died in a fight. If their lord did not surrender, their corpses would be simply left for the animals, but since their lord did surrender to us, this is the least we could do to give them some respect.

We are now ready to walk our way down the hill road.

...

As we slowly trot our horses down the road we split our task upon towing the wares and keeping eyes on Westerling. I tow the three horses carrying the wares while Aeron keeping the rein on Gawen Westerling's horse.

After riding for a significant time, I noticed that while not really being that uncooperative, Gawen Westerling seems to periodically look back from his position. Well, maybe he just can't forget the three dead knights we left behind at the ruined old mine, but then I noticed that he seems to look along the road, not the mine, and this smells suspicious.

Especially the time when a fox jumps and run across us, I catch a glimpse of smile upon Gawen Westerling's face, instead of fear. This guy may actually expect someone to follow us or something like that.

I silently mentioned Aeron to stop, and he understood my intent. Tying the reins of Westerling's horse securely to a tree before coming at my position. I looked toward the surrounding wilderness, we're currently on a road that still head downhill, steep cliff at our south and some grassy plain on our north, but as far as we can see under the moonlight, there should be nobody around us.

As he leaned toward me, I whispered about how we should test the sincerity of Westerling's surrender. We are not stupid enough to believe his statements just because we are honorable men on Holy mission.

We silently pray to the Drowned Goddess Aqua to wish us fortune that this action to test the trustworthiness of Westerling would not lead us to any kind of sudden ambush or worse.

I tied the rope towing the three horses with wares to another tree, and we move toward the position of Gawen Westerling.

"Are you sure there will be nobody trying to contact you?" questioned Aeron.

"No my lord, we are alone, nobody is following me."

"Will you agree to keep your silence in event we are attacked?" questioned Aeron again.

"I swear to keep my silence sers, this is my Oath in front of the Old Gods..." said Westerling in fear, and we decided to let him sit alone on his horse.

After that, Aeron and I trot around the path with our weapons at the ready, I grab my longbow while Aeron holding his long axe at the ready.

"Intruder!" I said in clear voice while drawing my longbow and release an arrow into the darkest part of the bushes, at my command Aeron trots his horse into the part of the bush I just shot at, start slashing at the dark shadows of the hedge. I pulled another arrow and almost release it, before the motherfucker shout behind us.

"BY THE SEVEN! HELP ME! HELP ME! I WAS CAPTURED BY HEATHENS! HELP M... AAARGH!" shouted Gawen Westerling before Aeron ride to his position and silence him by hitting his face with the blunt end of his long axe, causing this honorless scum to fall off his horse and roll on the ground.

Our suspicion were right, this guy is a honorless scum all along. Thankfully this is merely a test to gauge his trustworthiness, and he has proven himself cannot be trusted at all.

"Well, this thieving scum turned out to be an utterly honorless oathbreaking scum. Let's kill him and dump his corpse. We could make do with three less golden dragons." I said after dismounting from my horse, looking down toward Gawen Westerling in anger.

The honorless oathbreaker could only shiver in fear while I unsheathe my sword, somewhere along the way; I could see that this coward finally wet himself.

"A... Mercy Lord Edmure... MERCY!" Gawen Westerling screams as I raised my sword high to chop his neck. However, Aeron held his left arm in front of me, mentioning me to not just end this honorless scum's pitiful life.

"I have much better idea that will force this oathbreaker to cooperate with us." said Aeron while unsheathing the sword that used to belong to either Westerling or one of his knights. "He would remember that we have the only way to heal him..."

"This honorless oathbreaking scum deserves death, not another mercy. Wait a minute, are we sure you are the Ironborn, and I am the Riverlander?"

"Putting him to death would be actually more merciful than what I planned to do with this oathbreaker. You know how particularly rowdy prisoner of war were treated right?" said Aeron with a smirk.

Long story short, we hamstrung both feet of this oathbreaking scum and cut off the tendons on both of his arms. Our cuts are particularly nasty and deep into the bone. Something that even an Archmaester cannot heal properly but would be a simple task to heal with magic.

In case his friends sprung him out from our custody, he would never be able to walk, hold a sword, or even crawl again unless Aeron heals him first. Of course, the honorless oathbreaking scum end up almost fall into unconsciousness over the horror we inflicted upon his body.

"We should just kill you for being a honorless oathbreaking scum. You dare break your sacred oath to us, and tell a lie that you pray to the Old Gods while invoking the Seven as soon as you feel help is near." said Aeron with venom in his voice. "I can heal you if you cooperate, but in case of your friends really reach you; we have ways to make you die slow, agonizing death without any hope of recovery."

The frightened Westerling could only nods his head in fear as we haul him on top of his horse again, tying him like a luggage instead of let him ride as a human being. We also cover his eyes to make sure he can't recognize anything around us, just in case.

After covering his eyes, I pried open Westerling's jaw, holding my dagger in attempt to cut off his tongue to avoid him from giving his position by voice, but much to my surprise, Aeron put his hand upon my arm that hold the dagger.

"Why? He could still scream you know." I whispered to Aeron.

"That's where I draw the line, hamstringing was common practice to particularly unruly prisoners, but cutting his tongue is way too much. That reminds me of what Euron has done to his thrall-rowers on Silence." whispered Aeron in surprisingly sad voice.

"Oh sorry..." I felt bad to be equated with the worst of Greyjoy brothers according to rumors, and Aeron's words just proven the validity of the rumors.

"Just gag him with cloth that would be enough."

Westerling has already passed out, either from the pain or from fear I would cut his tongue off. With everything set up for our journey back, we untied the horses carrying the wares before resuming our journey down the hill.

We already promised to keep this honorless oathbreaking scum alive until we reached Golden Tooth, but being alive did not preclude being treated like animal because this is all his fault.

...

Morning come, and the first of our problem handling our honorless oathbreaking scum of prisoner arrive. As Westerling gave muffled scream underneath his gag, I was irritated but fearing a little if this man is at his death throes, so I decide to open his gag.

"Lord Edmure... I need to go to privy..."

"Don't call me that you dolt! Call me ser Kermit!" I said in irritation. "And just wet yourself, unless..."

"Eww..." said Aeron while crunching his nose, well, how did we let our crippled prisoner to go to privy without giving him chance to escape? If this was in guarded convoy with many soldiers at our side, that won't be a problem, but as we are only two men.

"We could deal with piss, but if he's going to do further..." I whispered to Aeron.

"I'll heal his feet and his left arm, but keep him tied up to a tree to do his business. And ready your bow in case he tried to make a run for it."

"It would be easier if we just kill him."

"We agree to keep his life as we gave our words; we are not honorless oathbreaking scum like him."

Long story short, Aeron healed Westerling's left arm and feet before we partially untie his bindings. He looks toward us with mixture of fear and awe as he tried moving his left arm again and walks.

"We have no time to spare, any funny business and you die." I said while keeping the aim of my longbow squarely upon him.

"Aye Lord Edmure..."

"SER KERMIT!"

"Aye ser Kermit..." said Westerling, who then going to do his business under a tree while we watch.

After he finished his business, Gawen Westerling walk back toward our position, where Aeron dutifully tie him up again.

"Shall we hamstring him again?" I asked Aeron, who only replied with him unsheathing his dagger.

"Mercy... mercy ser Kermit, ser Harmund... I swear..."

"Your swear is worthless you honorless oathbreaker!" I shouted into his ears. "If not because we already promised you mercy..."

"We could let you learn to honor your words oathbreaker, but since you are proven to be untrustworthy anyway." said Aeron with a shrug. "We'll just hamstring your left foot this time. We promise to heal you if you learn to honor your words."

"No my lords, please no! AAARGH!"

I secured Westerling's body while Aeron pull the leg and buried his dagger into this oathbreaking scum's hamstring. Long story short, he passed away again from the pain.

...

After a full day walking down the hill road, at night we met with the previous innkeeper, who in turn still remember Westerling as the stingy noble from before. We gave the innkeeper three silver stags for our food and lodging, before hauling our oathbreaking prisoner into the room.

We dropped Westerling down on the floor, close the door, and partially untie the honorless oathbreaking scum so his left hand slipped out of the rope. We opened the gag on his mouth, and the cover on his eyes, he's already awake but can only stare toward us blankly.

"Eat!" I tossed a piece of bread toward our prisoner as he did not eat anything before this, only drink from waterskin shoved to his mouth to prevent him from dying of thirst.

"I promise to not attempting to escape again... please heal me..." cried the honorless scum.

"We already healed your left arm and right foot, you could learn to cope with that in our journey, no healing until we back at Golden Tooth, oathbreaker." said Aeron sternly.

But before the honorless oathbreaker could eat or even retort, someone knocked our door. I gestured to Aeron to wear one of the looted chainmail as I worn my coif and neckerchief to conceal my identity. Keeping my sword upon this oathbreaker's neck, we are ready for the worst to come. Must be one of his friends or...

...

"In the name of Lord Marbrand, open the door sers!" shouted someone across the closed door, and we exchange our glances.

"What business Lord Marbrand has with us, humble hedge knights?" Aeron answered.

"We have caught Westerling's criminal accomplices' sers." shouted someone else in commanding tone. "You have my words that I, Damon of House Marbrand, would not deprive you of your rightful rewards. We have seen how respectfully you treated the corpses of the thieving knights and I believe you are honorable men. Please, open the door."

Once again, Aeron and myself exchanged glances while this oathbreaking scum's face turned deathly pale upon hearing the voice. At least this oathbreaking scum will receive justice, but still with my identity being compromised to this oathbreaker, I decided to gag his mouth once again before Aeron slowly open the door.

And as we opened the door, we see a stout middle-aged man with grey hair and short beard walking across the door. He bared his head but his helmet is held ready at his hand, he worn platemail under grey tabard, showing sigil of a burning tree, at his hip a long sword in ornate sheath. Two knights in full armor and helmets follow him entering the room, and we could see them carrying their poleaxes.

We exchanged polite nods toward the newcomers. Damon Marbrand himself immediately takes a look at Gawen Westerling, shook his head in disappointment before speak to the honorless scum.

"Once Lord Tywin hears about this, there will be consequences, for I have sent the report of his crime to Casterly Rock." said Damon Marbrand while mentioning for one of his knight to close the door.

"Lord Marbrand, we are at your service." we said politely as we stand, bowing our heads low as gesture of acknowledgement in keeping our cover as humble hedge knights. Technically, my status is higher and Aeron has no need to do that as a peer, but to maintain our cover...

"At ease sers, I am here to see for myself how low my fellow Lord could fall into such despicable dishonorable crime of thievery." said Damon Marbrand. "He has another accomplices sent separately from The Crag to recover the stolen goods, too bad for him, some of them did not feel particularly willing to go with their liege's dishonorable act, confessed their planned crime when they passed Ashemark."

Westerling's shocked face under his gag is a funny sight to behold, which explained his actions last night and why he was so readily willing to break his oath. This oathbreaking thieving scum really has accomplices, too bad they end up arrested first.

"The honorable knights who confess will receive their just reward from Lord Tywin while the criminal ones who tried to flee either dead or will be sent to the Wall once this investigation finished. One of Westerling's daughters in particular, will be sent to the Mountain if either he or his wife does not comply with the investigation."

"Mmpf! Mmpfff!" mumbled Gawen Westerling under his gag while he thrashed around.

"Gawen is a noisy one is he? Open his gag and his bindings, I want to speak with him." said Damon Marbrand with a sad smile on his face. "I actually expect him to be already dead when we found the corpses of his men, but I am genuinely surprised on how you managed to keep Westerling alive. There will be another reward for your honorable action."

I am at loss with Damon Marbrand's command. If we open this honorless oathbreaker's mouth, he will blurt my identity to Damon Marbrand, but at the other side, hedge knights did not deny a Lord's reasonable request.

Trying to escape is impossible now, as we can't just outfight our way against the three men with even heavier arms and armor.

What should we do now?

...

 **Inn at the edge of Ashemark, 289 AC**

We have no other choice, trying to fight Damon Marbrand and his knights, who only give us a very reasonable order, would be tantamount to suicide.

I winced as I undo the gag upon this oathbreaker, while Aeron undo his bindings. The Marbrand Knights stood at our side, ready to help us if this oathbreaking scum dares to try to do anything dangerous.

"Please no! Don't send my daughter to the Mountain! Please! I'll comply! I already surrendered!" cried Gawen Westerling.

The Marbrand knights tried to make him stand, but he crumpled to the ground as his feet cannot support his own weight due to being hamstrung. Damon Marbrand of course notices the wounds upon Westerling's body, how his left foot cannot hold his own weight, and how his right arm hung limply upon his body.

"You crippled him?" said Damon Marbrand while raising his eyebrows. "Attempted escape, isn't he?"

"I'm sorry my lord, but that was the truth. We feared him having accomplices but needed the extra gold coin from taking him alive." I answered.

"What you said for yourself then?" questioned Marbrand while looking toward Westerling.

"They spoke the truth Marbrand. I do attempted to escape, this is my just punishment." said the oathbreaker, taking us by surprise, literally. Apparently the threat of having your daughter sent to Gregor Clegane is one of the most effective tools of persuasion here in Westerlands.

"Considering lesser men would prefer to kill him already, and how you go beyond your task to bring this honorless thief to justice alive. You have earned my respect sers." said Damon Marbrand while giving a sign for his knights as they end up opening their helmets. Obviously signaling us to do the same. "May I have your name, honorable sers?"

Oh. Crap. To do anything but opening our head covering would raise even more suspicion, but then, in this dark, candle lit room. Oh well, maybe we just need to show our faces, and it's not like anyone could realize my Tully features and Aeron's dyed hair under dim candle lights anyway, so I bare my head and Aeron soon followed suit.

"My name is Kermit Axis, and he is my brother, Harmund Axis." I said while Aeron seems a bit hesitant to open his coif.

"Your face reminds me of someone..." said Damon Marbrand while scratching his beard. "But you are too young to be him anyway... maybe... Why you end up working as hedge knights?"

Please don't mention either uncle Brynden or father here, which would be awkward. Oh wait; I remember another house which is known for having auburn hair and blue eyes.

"Our knightly house was a minor one at Riverlands, sided with Prince Rhaegar at the Trident, leaving us dispossessed when we were nothing but children, Lord Marbrand." I tried to guide him into our 'official' sad cover story while adding another layer to explain my appearance. "We worked as sellswords until we were knighted by someone claims to be our relative bearing red and white griffins as his sigil."

"I see... That must explain it. I fought at the War of Ninepenny Kings with... them... I won't pursue you further, as I doubt you would know which one of them knighted you... and things better left unsaid about them." said Damon Marbrand with sadness and pity in his face. "But what can we say; Prince Rhaegar's madness changed the Seven Kingdoms forever. I won't judge you for your family's actions, conflict of loyalty are unavoidable, especially to lower houses which have very limited privilege of information but bear burnt of the purges afterwards. Well, that's it, once you reached Golden Tooth and earned your rightful rewards, I'm sure you two will have someone willing to give land for you to sworn your swords."

"T... Thank you, Lord Marbrand." we said in unison while bowing our heads.

"Anyway, for this thieving scum over here, his compliance, as well as those of his wife, will determine how much Lord Tywin will let his family retain after the investigation. Failure to comply on either party will assure one of his daughters to be sent to the Mountain." said Damon Marbrand with a smirk. "Now I need to spend a little time with this dishonorable lord, sers. Have no worry, for he will return under your custody next morning, and I will send some of my guards to accompany you to Golden Tooth to earn your rewards. Have a good night."

I could only worry as the Marbrand knights dragged Gawen Westerling out of our room, while we bow to Damon Marbrand one last time.

...

After making sure Damon Marbrand is far enough to be polite for us to close the door, I look back toward Aeron, who also has the same nervous expression in our faces. What if the oathbreaker end up blurting out our identity to Marbrand?

"Should we run away?" questioned Aeron.

"I wish, but it would be even more suspicious. Damon Marbrand did not come here with just two knights at his sides." I said as I closed the door and peek out through the window. "There are several more Marbrand men-at-arms outside; we would have no chance if we tried to sneak past them."

"Let's just pray to the Drowned Goddess that the oathbreaker did not break his oath once more. I almost regret giving him mercy back then, but I do feel as if the Drowned Goddess herself wanted us to let him alive."

...

Next morning, we wake up particularly early over our uneasiness. True, we prayed to our most wise and understanding Drowned Goddess for the oathbreaker to keep his mouth shut, but still.

"Ah, Ser Kermit, your prisoner is held at the stables, my lord Marbrand is still asleep in his room." said one of the Marbrand knights who are with us last night.

"No problem ser, we only want to break our fast rather early today." I said while trying to suppress my own nervousness.

"You won big time sers, either Lord Lefford or Lord Marbrand himself would have you sworn to serve under." said the knight with smile on his face. "Arresting a thieving lord is no small feat, especially when Lord Westerling and his retinue you slain are very experienced knights on the battlefield."

"That was an ambush, actually." I tried to not boasting our prowess, especially since Westerling do managed to stab Aeron in the gut and crippled my left arm, all healed by healing magic later of course so it doesn't affect us in the end. There is also the moment where I would be dead at the first place if not for my water magic literally taking them off guard too. "Well placed arrows and immediate axe to the head killed the three. Any real fight we have is two against one."

"Then that means you really crippled Lord Westerling in combat, for he had no other wounds upon his body, two against one, that alone is still an accomplishment for a young knights like you."

"..." I looked at Aeron, who only grinned in awkward manner, so much for his generosity to heal the oathbreaking scum from his original fighting wounds. Now if only someone noticed that what we hamstrung should be protected under armor.

Some time passed but the sky was still dark when Damon Marbrand informed us it is time to go back to Golden Tooth. He ordered four of his men-at-arms to accompany us back to Golden Tooth, as in his opinion, both the prisoner and the wares we're carrying is very valuable, it would earn us disservice if we end up dead from brigands. Long story short, apparently the oathbreaker did learn to keep his mouth shut, as Damon Marbrand never learned who we are at the first place.

...

 **Golden Tooth, 289 AC**

Four days have passed when we reached the Golden Tooth. After saying our farewell to the Marbrand Guards in front of the gates, we carried our prisoner toward the castle hall, where Leo Lefford and Johari should already await us there.

At this point, it seems that our modified cover story worked well to explain my auburn hair and blue eyes, while everybody thought how Aeron dyed his hair blue as some sort of personal fashion. Everyone knew the tragic story of the Conningtons, the one who followed Prince Rhaegar is missing, dispossessed by King Aerys in spite of his loyalty to be presumed dead after the war, while the other who turned against the dragons end up stripped from most of his lordships by fickle whim of King Robert. Claiming them as my relative while claiming Riverlander descent should have thrown anyone curious enough way off the mark as we would be deemed as far enough relative to be of non consequence.

Sure, that leave only the matter of this thieving oathbreaking scum known as Gawen Westerling, our prisoner who somehow pieced together my identity from having known uncle Blackfish rather personally, but I would bet the thing that really tipped off him is my own use of water magic. As long as I refrained from using magic in the open, I would be seen as just another poor hedge knight of tragic lineage.

"I keep my oath, Lord Edmure..." said Gawen Westerling, limping at his feet while we're walking through an empty corridor. "Can you heal me?"

"It would be too suspicious..." I tried to retort but Aeron just moved his hand and heal Westerling's wounds for some reasons. He is still tied up and chained anyway, so the chance of him running away is pretty nil at this point.

"Thank you for keeping your words, Ser Harmund." said Gawen Westerling in surprisingly polite manner.

"Try acting limp for several days." said Aeron with a smile. "And remember to fulfill your oath to take the Black. Tell everyone else that the Gods healed your limbs in exchange of you joining the Night's Watch, which should suffice."

...

Thankfully for us, Leo Lefford did not really appear to pay any attention toward us at first, choosing instead to have a long rant against how Gawen Westerling dishonored Westerlander name and spat upon him as he already guaranteed the security of merchants running business in his land.

Of course, Johari was there too and confirmed that Gawen Westerling is indeed the very same noble who took his wares without paying them. It's not like Westerling would have any chances of denial anyway, so he ends up being very cooperative with the investigation so far. We did not want Leo Lefford's attention however, so we let him do his rant for a significant amount of time, until...

"And that's why I hope Lord Tywin will either execute you or sent you to the Wall. Stealing from a merchant who has paid his lawful tax to be under my protection meant you spat upon my honor, if not because Lord Tywin Lannister informed that he has sent Kevan Lannister to judge you in his stead, you should be already dead!" said Leo Lefford for the fifth time upon his seat at the castle hall.

"I already said my intent to take the Black to atone my dishonor, Lord Lefford, but if Lord Tywin deny me the chance to atone in exchange of my head, I will bear my well-deserved punishment." said Gawen Westerling softly. "You could ask the two honorable sers here who caught me."

You dolt, don't make Leo Lefford notices us dammit.

"Ah, Ser Kermit and ser Harmund of House... Axis? Oh well, your house dispossessed from your Riverlands holding by Lord Hoster Tully over you being family of the Conningtons, right?" said Leo Lefford with neutral tone. "I do not bear the same resentment the old fish has with your lineage and wish to retain your services, so with your consent, you could be my household knights."

"Thank you, Lord Lefford, but... no sire..." I tried to politely refuse the part of being landed knights, since it will eventually reveal our true identities. "We are still young, and we still wish to travel around as knight-errant. Call us foolish, but please let us have our youthful dream of adventure."

"Ah, romantic fools..." said Leo Lefford with sour smile on his face. "Spent too much of your time listening chivalric tales about wandering knights aren't you?"

"That is the truth my lord, call us romantic fools, but we still want to wander around Seven Kingdoms and beyond in search for adventure." I said politely.

"Can't blame you though, being household knights will also mean you would be doing nothing but garrison duty and exact tax payments for smallfolks in peacetime, while required to stand behind the wall of this very castle in case of war." said Leo Lefford while his smile losing the sour edge upon our admittance as 'romantic fools'. "Not exactly the most glamorous stuffs for young souls like you, for I was once a young man too."

"Thank you for your understanding, Lord Lefford." we said in unison.

"Anyway, you were honest, honorable men, if you want to settle in either my land or at Marbrand's, here's the recommendation letter. And here's your reward, three golden dragons for bringing this criminal scum alive, and another seven golden dragons for restoring the honor of Westerlander nobility. By apprehending this scum, you have done great service upon Westerland."

"Thank you, Lord Lefford." we said in unison again while bowing to receive our rewards.

"I know you would get a huge reward from this Pentosi merchant too. A word of advice, use them to fulfill your youthful desires to a point, but remember to not spend all of them in wine and whores. You are knights sworn upon to upheld honor and chivalry, not Northern or Ironborn savages."

Aeron grinned uncomfortably upon the later remark, but yeah, he keeps his silence.

"Anyway, if you were looking for your next adventure, I'll suggest for you to try to search for the missing Edmure Tully." said Leo Lefford while looking to the east. Not knowing that the very same person he mentioned is standing right in front of him. "Lord Hoster offered five thousand golden dragons for anyone who could persuade his son to come back home in peace, obviously alive and well treated, preferably not in front of an army full of tree-worshiping heathens and mountain clans."

I tried to not showing any sign of nervousness as even Gawen Westerling looked at me with stink eyes...

"Well, but considering he is reputed to be a water sorcerer who could drown entire army in a deadly deluge, many would see this task as not worth the risk anyway." said Leo Lefford with a chuckle as I rolled my eyes, sure, rumors tend to overblown something into ridiculous proportions, but really? "Even despite the High Septon already branded him an apostate and called for him to be disinherited, the King and Lord Hand actually roll over and give Edmure Tully a very major concession to keep the peace. The Iron Throne guarantees Edmure Tully's inheritance as lawful heir of Riverrun against the urging of the High Septon and the Most Devout. And that is the reason on why Lord Hand has called upon peace conference to be held at Riverrun in about a week or so from now."

"Uh what? I... he was branded as an apostate? The High Septon is being involved." I said in shock as I never knew this would end up like this.

"Yes, the brand of apostate. Last used against Maegor the Cruel, and we all know how it ends up for the Faith." said Leo Lefford as he chuckled again. "I would place my bet that Lord Stark must be pulling the strings from behind the scene. Magic backed threat of rebellion to give followers of the Old Gods more and more concessions against the Faith, considering the rumors about how the Starks themselves obtained a living magical siege weapon at the first place..."

That was my niece you dolt.

"Anyway, if you still want to look for Edmure Tully, maybe this would help you, House Blackwood, House Ryger, House Piper, and House Smallwood, all followers of the Old Gods, already declared their support for the water sorcerer. Edmure Tully must take refuge in one of their castle, or already way north at Winterfell under whatever spell Lord Stark used to snare upon him."

"Ah... no... Actually we planned to stay in Golden Tooth for a while, finishing our business with our current employer." I said while mentioned Johari, who bow politely to Leo Lefford. "Before packing up to somewhere else which we could attend a tourney or something."

"Did you know about Darkness?" questioned Aeron before I could even remind him to not blurt out about that thing.

"Darkness? Are you refer to Edmure Tully again?" said Leo Lefford, and we look toward each other in confusion. "There are rumors among the Faithful that Edmure Tully himself... is Darkness."

Well, that was unexpected, but really? We definitely need to contact the Drowned Goddess soon before this thing turned out to be even more confusing.

"Well then, you all dismissed." said Leo Lefford while soon afterwards, two Lefford knights took Gawen Westerling, holding his arms to escort him to his cell. "Farewell, honorable sers, may we met again sometime."

"Thank you, Lord Lefford." said us before we turned our back and walk toward the stables together with Johari at our side.

"Well, Marbrand said that Westerling is now a cripple, but it seems he got better already." said Leo Lefford while looking at how Gawen Westerling walked. I looked toward Aeron with unamused glare while will ourselves to walk as fast as we can toward the stables without appear to be running. Behind us, Johari lagged behind as his legs is shorter than us.

"Wait for me sers." said Johari while catching up his breath.

...

Anyway, we end up back at the merchant encampments without any incidents. Johari did ask about why we walk that fast, but then we argued something about we are just hungry, which result in Johari laughing something about how Leo Lefford's multi hours long rants must have driven everyone to utter boredom.

He keeps his words somewhat, and paid us twenty-four golden dragons, and a big box full of an artist's supplies enough to last for a year already mounted on a closed wagon, complete with another pair of horses to haul them.

"Well, never thought you would go that overboard Johari, we only asked for something about fifty or something silver stags that we could put in our saddlebags, not... this... much..." I said while Aeron practically dropped his jaw upon seeing this.

"Come on, I have seen the quality of your works upon your painted shields and needlework as nothing but top-notch. Think of this as a way of me to honor your aspiration." said Johari with a polite smile. "The entire worth of this moving studio is at ten golden dragons but I only docked your pay by eight. That is the way I show my thanks to your hard work."

I have the feeling that instead of worth ten golden dragons, the worth of this full wagon should be actually closer to five golden dragons or even less, so we are shortchanged for at least three golden dragons, but whatever, merchants and their ilks. And we do need to get out of here fast before Leo Lefford realize he just talked about Edmure Tully in front of the very same Edmure Tully himself, so better not complain about this rather than attracting unwanted eyes upon us.

"Well, thank you Johari, may we meet again sometimes."

"May we meet again in the future good sers. And if you wish to move into Pentos, you could always refer to me, Magister Illyrio Mopatis is my friend there."

"We'll keep that in mind."

...

After packing up our belongings and tied Aeron's horse at the side of the wagon, we spent the night sleeping at the inn here before we depart at the morning before the sun even rises.

"So... where we shall go next squid? Shall we go back to Riverlands and speak for ourselves, or..."

"I don't know... but considering I will need some days painting the Holy Icon of the Drowned Goddess, we should move to somewhere calm, and far away from Ashemark for we could meet with Damon Marbrand again. How about following the River road further west, and spending our days living near Oxcross? I would like to paint some pictures that we could sell later at Lannisport."

"Sounds like good idea."


	17. PART 17 : EDMURE

**PART 17 : EDMURE TULLY**

 **Oxcross, 289 AC**

The journey from Golden Tooth to Oxcross took far longer than expected. What should be three days of horse riding turned out to be eight days as the wagon given by Johari encumbered us. Even as the wagon is now pulled by four horses, they apparently did not work well as a team, so in truth, we actually travel slower than anyone else who used just a normal wagon.

Around the way, we passed a large group of riders bearing the golden lion on red sigil of the Lannisters heading toward Golden Tooth. Nothing in particular happened as we just stop our wagon and gave them the priority to use the way first as politeness dictate, but why do I have a nagging feeling that the obvious leader of the group, a middle-aged blonde haired man wearing red and gold jacket, seems to look toward me with raised eyebrows as he passed. Said group end up just keep moving as they ride past us, so that must be just my imagination. We keep wearing our coif and neckerchief most of the time, so nobody should be able to recognize us anyway.

We arrived at Oxcross two days ago. As we still have forty-two golden dragons and around three hundred silver stags combined, we decided to just spending our time lounging at an Inn where Aeron painted the Holy Icon of the Drowned Goddess.

...

Today the Holy Icon of the Drowned Goddess was finished, and as soon as Aeron gave the finishing touch of the painting, he falls on the floor as he drained most, if not almost all his magical power.

I smiled when I see the familiar blue haired, blue-eyed, most beauteous appearance of the Drowned Goddess in the canvas. She has white staff with large pink flower bud, and she looks toward us in a playful, charming manner as her flowing pink raiment frame her lithe body clad in blue short skirted dress.

Alright everything is going almost as planned now, and what I have to do is waiting for Aeron to be awakened.

Night has fallen and I just returned from the tavern. Aeron is still in deep slumber while the portrait of the Drowned Goddess still mounted upon the easel.

"Nice to see you again Fish-NEET!" called the Drowned Goddess just after I closed the door to the room.

"Drowned Goddess!" I kneeled in front of the Holy Icon of her.

"I just managed to locate where Darkness is, an island surrounded with roaring dark blue sea." said the Drowned Goddess with a sad smile on her face. "As I feared, the Seven-Faced demons placed a cloud over Darkness, that's why Darkness cannot really hear my call."

"Darkness drowned... awakened... too early..." said the Drowned Goddess before she turned her back and suddenly cried. "Turn undead!" before our communication abruptly ended as I see a horde of undead corpses surrounding the Drowned Goddess and another small, bearded figure with brown skin, large mossy green eyes, and wearing some sort of armor made from living Weirwood.

"Drowned? Island? Dark blue sea?" I reflexively said while remembering the other figure that does not seem to be human who stand at the side of the Drowned Goddess as she fights the undead horde, the last thing I saw on the picture before it returned into just being a normal portrait of the Drowned Goddess.

Wait... island? Is the Drowned Goddess actually wanted us to go to Iron Isles? Considering Darkness apparently drowned but then awakened too early, could it be a sign that we must look for a Drowned Man?

I must admit I knew nothing about it, so all I could do is waiting for Aeron to be awakened first.

...

After spending the night barely asleep over the ominous warning made by the Drowned Goddess, as Aeron is still in his deep slumber, I decided to go to the village blacksmith and exchange the looted chainmails with segmented breastplate and steel armguards that I could wear over my mail. In addition, the surplus is actually enough to net us two matching Ironborn style spangenhelms complete with eye guards, which may prove useful for us to go around Iron Isles without anybody noticing us, hopefully, as we would look just like another Ironborn.

The plated mail that formerly belongs to Gawen Westerling actually fit Aeron rather well, so we did not need to modify it too much other than fixing the broken parts of the mail and reforge the dented plates at the chest. I also bought two spears, a poleaxe, a crossbow (with another bag of bolts), and also a quiver full of arrows to fill our arsenal (which could be stored inside the wagon anyway together with two arming swords we took from Westerling and his men).

In total, I spent one golden dragon and eighty silver stags for all the equipment and repair.

...

Next day, Aeron finally wake up at sunset, he shivered as he retells the similar vision of horror about the Drowned Goddess and Old God of The Green being swarmed by a massive horde of undead, so they could not contact us further for quite some time. But even then, it seems that the Drowned Goddess herself also come into conclusion that we need to go to Iron Isles.

I told him that the wise Drowned Goddess has told me about Darkness, as Darkness is at an island surrounded with roaring dark blue sea.

"Dark blue sea means the sea surrounding that island must be rather particularly deep. And the Iron Isles is indeed stormy, especially compared to most of the seas frequented more by Greenlanders." said Aeron while looking rather happy with the revelation. "Now, the question is to procure a ship to go to Iron Isles at the first place."

"But if Darkness is at the Iron Isles, why did the Drowned Goddess contact me at the first place instead of just you?" I asked Aeron, who scratched his head in our mutual confusion.

"And the rest of my own family disowned me... well, at least Balon, not sure about Victarion."

"You do have another..."

"Let's not talk about Euron."

"Alright... so..."

"The Holy Icon did not respond yet to our prayers, she must be still busy fending off the wights. In this time, what we need is faith in Her guidance toward us." said Aeron with a touch of finality.

"After deducing our food, lodging, and fodder for our horses, we still have forty golden dragons, a hundred and ninety-three silver stags, along with total of a hundred and twenty-five pennies worth of copper coins. Far more than enough to the trip to Iron Isles, but the question is finding a ship that would be willing to carry us there at the first place."

"We're already planned to go to Lannisport anyway, so what's the problem?"

"The ship dammit, being so close with your brothers' rebellion, I doubt anyone is in the mood to sail to Iron Isles, even if we paid them..."

"..." Aeron put his head down on his hand after he realized that we are currently stuck on land, with no way to go to Iron Isles. While forty golden dragons would be more than enough for transport cost, finding a willing merchant ship to carry us aboard is another thing entirely.

"We could hope there may be some... wait, you were right, reaving Westerlands so close after the war is tantamount to suicide."

"How much is the price of one ship?"

"Far above forty golden dragons, a proper ship would cost us at least by the thousands and anyway... even if we could procure a ship from Lannisport, two men is simply not enough to crew it!"

"Then we did not have the money!"

"If there are reavers nearby, we could steal one and have Ironborn crew..."

"Dammit squid, no stealing! I never want to earn the wrath of Tywin Lannister, mind you."

"Alright, we'll try moving to Lannisport first, and try to look if anyone is willing to transport us to Pyke. I could try to persuade Victarion to help us, at least."

...

 **Lannisport, 289 AC**

We spent six days on the road after leaving Oxcross, and we arrived at Lannisport at dawn on the seventh day. According to the innkeeper there, next day would be the start of the ninth month of the year, as today is the thirty-second day of the eighth month.

As predicted, mentioning that you want to go to Iron Isles is a quick way to either laughed at, or worse, angering the captain that thought we are madmen for wanting to go there at the first place.

We spent a day in futility, trying to gain a method of transportation, but nobody wanted to take our gold for transport to Iron Isles.

As we moved our wagon into an inn at night, we heard something interesting from other patrons at the tavern.

"Have you seen a young man with long auburn hair and blue eyes? Ser Brynden Tully offers two thousand golden dragons for anyone that could lead us to him." said a man in mail armor, wearing Tully sigil upon his tabard, and at his hand, he carried a hand drawn portrait of mine. He speaks to another group of patrons sitting on the table.

How in se... How the hell my father knew I was here to send one of his knights and why he mentioned uncle Brynden, of all people?

"No, we never seen him at all." said one of the patron before they resume to drink their ale and chat between themselves.

"He travels in a wagon with a hedge-wizard or something. Are you sure that you never see..."

"No, please leave us ser..." said an irritated, half-drunk patron, and I am never more grateful for a random drunken man to shoo one of my father's knight.

"I still feel he must be here." said another man toward the Tully knight, a short one, with black lizard-lion sigil upon his dull green cloak.

Uh-oh... I remembered seeing him exactly once at Catelyn's wedding, and why is my father sending a crannogmen of all people to track me?

"Shit..."

I signed Aeron to be silent as we abandoned our previous plan to drink our hearts' content at the tavern. We need to stay alert and escape before my uncle and his men and this damned crannogmen managed to realize we are here.

We managed to tiptoe our way back toward our wagon, give the stable boy a silver stag for his trouble (we're not even entering the inn yet, but extra guarantee for his silence anyway), and tried to silently run away as if we untied our horses, it would be even more suspicious. We could claim ourselves to be hedge knights in secret escort mission, but...

Just after we managed to move away from the tavern, near the city gate, we met another man who wears a long dark brown cloak while holding something that burn with blue white fire at his hand. He is shorter than us, but has a thick chest and big belly; he opened his hood to reveal a face covered by a dark, rippled metal mask under a long, unkempt gray hair. At his hand, a staff with tied up bundle of cloth at the end.

"Psssh, do not fear me..." said the masked man as he brazenly jumps on top of our wagon, spooking the horses a bit as we placed our hand on top of our swords. "Just move south along the coast."

I wanted to stab this man as he casually waves the burning thing in front of us, but much to our surprise, the fire actually feels cold, and he just calmly tucked that thing inside his own cloak.

"Who are...?"

"Marwyn at your service, Lord Edmure..." whispered the masked man while pointing toward a chain he wore along his neck, signaling his status as a Maester. Do not worry; I have arranged... something... so that your pursuers would not follow us at the first place."

As we realized that this newcomer meant no harm, we just try to stay as calm as possible while getting out of the city. For somewhat reason, we end up following his advice to just move along the coast in the dark.

...

After some time passed, and the city is already far away behind us, we feel confident enough to talk in a secluded place upon the coast, with sea literally at our side. Anyway, I felt nauseous as I just realized that the dim red glow coming from the inside of the city wall meant this man burned a city under the Lannisters' protection.

"You... you burned..."

"Only a whorehouse my lord, if the fire spread, that only prove the incompetence of Lannisport city watch, and they can't afford to be incompetent this time."

"Are you nut!" said Aeron. "It may end up be blamed upon Ironborn once again dammit!"

"Why would you care about the Ironborn hmm?" said the masked man. "Unless... you are indeed Aeron Greyjoy, the insane Blue Squid!"

"How do you know about us?" I unsheathed my sword and placed the edge upon his neck. "You just doomed us all! We tried to move away as peacefully as possible dammit! This is Tywin fucking Lannister we're talking about!"

"Of course the fire would be easily traced back to an unfortunate drunken dwarf that just entered the room and knocked a candle into a curtain that unfortunately spread quickly enough to the rest of the whorehouse. If anything, Lord Tywin Lannister would never try to investigate this at the first place, trust me."

"Dwarf? You don't mean..."

"Yes, this would be dismissed as unfortunate accident due to a drunken Tyrion Lannister. Don't look me at that, you owe me one this time." said the masked man, who reached his face to twirl the mask upward, catching it with his other hand before tucking it under his cloak, revealing a grinning face with bent nose. "And believe me, he would never remember me at the first place, I have laced his drink with something that made him forget."

Alright, burning a whorehouse as distraction is one thing, but burning a whorehouse and placing the blame upon the infamous Lannister Imp is something of a masterstroke executed by a genius. Everyone knew that Tywin would be too ashamed to conduct any proper investigation in this matter anyway.

"You're a maester, right?" I asked the man after returning my sword inside its sheath, even as we never opened our helmets at the first place, in fear of being recognized by others.

"Just a humble man in search of truth, Lord Edmure, I am at your service, I would help you with everything you want me to do." said the Maester.

"By the way, do not call me with that..."

"Every Lords in Westerlands already knew about you at the first place since Damon Marbrand sent the message to Casterly Rock, Ser Kermit. They only thought your companion as some sort of hedge wizard, however."

"But why they..."

"Lord Tywin deems you as nothing but harmless fool, and he also not in the best relationship with the Faith of The Seven, so all he has done was informing your lord father about your whereabouts."

"..." even in darkness, I could feel that both of our faces must be as red as the Lannister color.

"I'm going to gut that oathbreaking scum Westerling when we met again." I said while remembering that he must be the one who told about us to Damon Marbrand at the first place.

"Actually no, Damon Marbrand immediately recognizes you from the description, but he decides to not open the matter in fear of inciting riots, same with Leo Lefford." said Marwyn with a smug face.

"And how did you know about this?" I replied in irritation, you can't just enter Casterly Rock and read Tywin Lannister's letters, aren't you?"

"When you are a man looking for truth, it's only natural for us to band together with the others, those with aim to arrive at the same destination that is the knowledge of the arcane. The Maester at Golden Tooth is the one belongs to pro-magic faction at the Citadel. You were lucky that Westerlands are among the less religious followers of the Seven-Faced Anathema."

"Anathema? You meant Demons?" questioned Aeron.

"You could call them that anyway, for the Seven is the Anathema to the Old Gods. For they are sages of the east who pool their collective souls into one soul, wielding seven bodies in a bid to overthrow the Old Gods and sealing the magic forever. If not because of the Northmen and the Ironborn being stubborn in the Old Gods' defense, they would already succeed."

"Wait, I never learned about..."

"That is why it was our imperative to save you from the grasp of the Faith, my lords. This is hidden knowledge that only select few maesters ever learn at the first place. For the Seven is nothing but a group of madmen, tried to ascend into Godhood to overthrow the real Gods. Of course, it would be understandable if the real Gods calls them as demons."

"But the Faith claimed that they themselves are..."

"The *new* Gods, pretending to guide mankind and care for their salvation, all while trying to abolish magic from this world, so they would be the sole wielder of magic. Very ironic, don't you think?"

"The Drowned Goddess never told us about this." said Aeron solemnly. "But she did say that the Seven are Demons, so..."

"I was actually curious about why you insist that the Drowned God being a Goddess... For I have read about your sermons back at Riverlands, yet in all our records, Drowned God is always being referenced as a male. You don't say your Goddess may actually still have a cock under..."

I think the Holy Icon of the Drowned Goddess suddenly glow with a magical light upon the mention of a certain thing. Did the Drowned Goddess actually heard that?

*BWOOOSSSHHHH* a massive torrent of water pushed Marwyn out of the wagon and plunge on top of the sandy beach, spooked the horses, so we are forced to hold the rein rather tightly.

"I AM A REAL GODDESS YOU CRAZY JERK!" screamed the Drowned Goddess from the inside of her Holy Icon, who appears to be understandably very angry upon being thought as a cross dresser by this Maester.

We tried our best to not paid any attention toward the Drowned Goddess' *womanly* parts, but even Aeron is curious enough that the Drowned Goddess' eyes caught us staring at her divine anatomy.

"We... we will not judge you about..." I stuttered a weak explanation when she looked at me with unamused glare.

"You are still a divine being... and this is all we need to... worship..." said Aeron in awkward, forced smile.

"This is why you should admit that you are Ktholho's daughter at the first place you moron!" said a small, brown skinned, bearded man, with big glowing mossy green eyes, wearing some sort of armor made of living Weirwood, who suddenly appeared and smacked the Drowned Goddess' head with a Weirwood branch.

I could see Marwyn already climbed up on the wagon again, and here we are, standing in the dark coast of Westerlands, facing two Gods who manifested inside a painting.

"Oh, by the way, let me introduce myself, I am Old God of The Green, uncle of the *current* Drowned Goddess. Her father, the old Drowned God was dead, murdered by the Seven-Faced Demons." said the Old God in a deep voice that belies his small body.

"The Old Drowned God... murdered?" said Aeron, his face paled upon this sudden revelation.

"Umm... I think I just see a group of riders riding out of the gates with torches." said Marwyn while pointing at the city gate, and whoever they are, they could spell problem to us.

"Summon one of your Kraken! Quick!" said the Old God of the Green toward the Drowned Goddess. "And you humans, please stand in place, don't move, we will transport you to Iron Isles! Trust us!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying uncle! Reinhard is currently swimming at his maximum pace!"

"Good, I'll take care of the horses!" said the Old God of The Green.

We waited in fear as the group of riders apparently notices us from all the noise we created. They started far enough that in theory, if we were riding on our horses instead of a wagon in sandy beach, we could easily outrun them. But since the Gods told us to stand still and not moving.

"EDMURE! Please come with us back to Riverrun!" said a voice that I immediately recognize belongs to none other than my uncle Brynden, even as they were still rather far from our position.

"Can you just explain yourselves to my uncle? I'm sure he would listen as you are real Gods..." I tried to say something toward the Drowned Goddess, but suddenly, two gigantic tentacles envelop and lift our wagon, but the horses seems to be unfazed even as they were gripped by other pair of tentacles.

"All is set, we will deposit you at somewhere in Iron Isles, in some days. You have the magic to create fresh water, and your horses shall provide enough food for your journey! Don't worry about Reinhard, just throw him some bones and everything would be alright!" said the Drowned Goddess before the Holy Icon turned to be normal painting once again.

As the Gods cease to communicate, it was us, humans who gripped the wagon with all our might, as we are currently hoisted high in the air.

"EDMUUURRREEEEE!" said my uncle as he witnessed our wagon hoisted high in the air by Kraken tentacles...

Before being softly plopped on top of its body, which indeed resemble a monstrously huge squid, held in place with its tentacles as it swam toward the west.

"I'M SORRY UNCLE BRYNDEN! BUT THE OLD GODS NEED ME!" I shouted as I tried to reassure my uncle that no, I am not being eaten by this giant squid. "WE ARE NOT BEING EATEN!"

I see as the riders trot toward our position, but deterred by the monstrous Kraken we're currently riding on, which should be visible even under dim starlight. I decided to open my coif and waved my hand out of the wagon, looking toward the direction where the torches are.

"I AM FINE UNCLE BRYNDEN! WE WILL MEET AGAIN! I PROMISE!"

"EDMURE! COME BACK!"

"SEE YOU LATER!"

"COME BACK!"

As the Kraken swims west, the last thing I could see were the torch lights that glowing smaller and smaller upon the horizon, alongside the lights coming from Lannisport.

Well, maybe our next step would be somewhere at Iron Isles, but hey, at least I could boast that I ride a Kraken as transport.

Aside of a certain Greyjoy that is overjoyed upon finding himself riding his house sigil, and a weird Maester who is currently frantically taking notes upon something. I bet the other Greyjoys would be very jealous with us.

"I can't wait to meet Victarion." said Aeron while looking blissfully toward the rough direction of our destination.


	18. PART 18 : EDMURE

**PART 18 : EDMURE TULLY**

 **Ocean, somewhere between Saltcliffe and Pyke, 289 AC**

Seven days passed after our Kraken-back escape from Lannisport. The sun almost set as we feed Reinhard the Kraken, last parts of our horsemeat.

Marwyn noted some interesting behavior on the Kraken's part, as it turned out that Kraken is pretty much a nocturnal beast. At first, we are freaked out about how the Kraken become slower and stopped swimming entirely at midday, when the sun is at the highest part of the sky, but he roused again some time before the sunset, twirling his tentacles around, expecting us to throw him slabs of meat for him to eat, before swimming full speed toward our destination.

And every sunset, we must fed him at least half a horse before he would resume his swimming again, this was noted as rather small portion compared to the Kraken's massive size. According to Marwyn's estimates, Reinhard's body is approximately an eighty feet long, fifteen feet wide, with only a portion of his back kept above the surface (which is where our wagon, or whatever was left of it after being exposed to the waves and kraken tentacles, resides). At one end of his body, there is two massive, wide fins used for swimming, while at the other end, while on the other end, a head with eyes larger than pavise, eight 'shorter' tentacles about sixty feet long, and two massive, muscular tentacles that should be one hundred and twenty feet long at minimum. The Kraken's tentacles lined with giant suckers containing sharp hooks at the center, enough to give any captain nightmares when one managed to grab a ship. While Reinhard is still relatively smaller than some galleys, or ships of the Iron Fleet when it matters, he is already bigger than most Ironborn longships or smaller ships used by merchants for that matter, and the Drowned Goddess herself said that Reinhard is just a young Kraken, he could still grow bigger and bigger to match the size of Krakens recorded in history thousands of years ago.

Monstrous size aside, Reinhard also smells rather bad, and being on top of him reminds me of fish market at Seagard. The skin is rough and sand colored, with a lot of corals and limpets growing upon the cracked texture along the way, giving the overall color closer to sand brown with spots of green and black. Most of it are submerged, and thus outside of sleeping time, when we could walk upon it, we are practically limited to sit inside our withered wagon. Of course, when Reinhard stops to sleep, Aeron and Marwyn gleefully spent their time poking around the Kraken's body, even as this very act caused them to stink even worse.

But let's be fair with them poking around the gigantic squid, Aeron managed to make a very realistic painting of the Kraken, albeit posed like a Greyjoy sigil, with Marwyn's help on the perspectives. He said that painting would be given to Balon to be placed on the Sea Tower of Pyke in Balon's solar, so he could always admire the Kraken.

...

"We have moved past Saltcliffe, Pyke should be within sight if we keep moving at full speed." said Aeron as he crouched on Reinhard's head, his feet partially submerged in the seawater, but he managed to keep his footing due to Reinhard basically just floating around, still eating his meal or something.

"Good grief! I can't wait to take a bath, even as I could still wash my face with pure water, I can't stand the stink!" I said in irritation as I sat in boredom inside the ruin of what used to be a wagon. At least the cloth covering still shields us from the sun, but it only made the smell worse. "Are you sure your brothers will just let you in? Balon Greyjoy already disowned you at the first place!"

"Have no fear, we are coming on top of a Kraken, a holy animal, we have done something that no Drowned Priests managed to summon in the last thousand years!" said Aeron proudly. "I am sure Balon would not mind providing food for Reinhard too."

"Gee, I could start to appreciate how hard it must be for the Targaryens to provide food for their dragons, back when they still had some." I said while mindlessly looking toward the sun setting in the horizon behind us. "Unlike you two, I am bored to the death here."

"We are busy making documentations my lord." said Marwyn while he kept scribbling on what is used to be a canvas, but now used as a scroll since he quickly run out his meager supply of parchments. Damn the Maesters and their obsessions with paperwork, what is the use of keeping observations on Kraken behavior anyway?

"Shut up you stowaway!" I snapped back. "We never expect you to show up at the first place!"

"You hurt my heart, my lord." said Marwyn with slight smile on his face. "I already said I don't mind being tagalong in your journey, you could treat me as a lowly manservant, if you wish, and I would still help you with everything you want me to do."

"Anyway, the Drowned Goddess and the Old God of the Greens themselves did not mind him, fish. He is very helpful with his maesterly knowledge." said Aeron while climbing on top of our wagon again, not bothering to dry his boots first, and I should mention that he is strutting on top of the Kraken wearing his full armor, which is originally Westerling's platemail.

"They don't mind because in the end, we already run out of horses. Maybe tomorrow we should just throw him as Kraken feed? We have no food left here because of Reinhard eating virtually all of our horses!"

"Have more faith in the Drowned Goddess will you?" said Aeron in unamused tone. "Yes, tomorrow we may end up not eating anything, but that was expected on a sea voyage, greenlander."

"If only the Gods warned us first about this journey, we would buy some supplies at Lannisport instead of subsisting on horse meat like this." I retorted. "And thanks to this idiot, Lannisport burns..."

"Correction, this is the *second* burning of Lannisport, in less than a year even. I was there when Victarion tossed the first torch onto the flagship of Tywin Lannister." said Aeron proudly.

"I only burned a whorehouse, and the blame would be pinned on the Lannister Imp anyway. Trust me, it would be untraceable to us, as it would be deemed as an unfortunate accident." snapped Marwyn back.

"If Tywin Lannister actually knew it was you, you could be very well plunging us into a war dammit! My uncle was there!" I shake Marwyn's shoulder in anger. "And if that happens, I'll send your pickled head to Casterly Rock."

"Calm down fish, let's just believe Marwyn already covered his track well. And anyway if war erupt on the South, I'm sure we could just spent our days at Iron Isles while searching for Darkness." said Aeron, putting his hand on my shoulder. "And it's not like they knew Marwyn is with us right now."

"That's true Fish-NEET! The Lions suspect nothing on you, nor your uncle, have no worry." said the Drowned Goddess, which suddenly appears inside the Holy Icon alongside of the shorter Old God of the Green. We immediately kneeled to our Gods upon their manifestations.

"There is a Weirwood in Casterly Rock, I would be aware if something happened there." said the Old God of the Green, who also show himself at the Drowned Goddess' side. "The Old Lion is content with slapping and locking up his Imp for the fire at Lannisport. He does not believe anything that the Imp said, but beware, the Imp is actually aware of the real culprit, just not sure if he really noticed you or not, masked Maester."

I involuntarily gulped as making an enemy to a Lannister is something that should not be taken lightly, even as...

"Feh, he's only an ugly Imp who nobody trusted at the first place. Sure, he's a Lannister, but what then?" said Marwyn nonchalantly while Aeron just chuckled upon hearing this. "Trying to kill us with his short stubby arms? Waddle across the sea to chase us?"

"His father did not believe any of his words, for now, but be careful." said Old God of the Greens ominously. "Anyway, we have discussed something, and you do have some magic potential, masked Maester."

The Old God of the Green pointed his short finger to Marwyn, and the maester's face brightened upon hearing this. And if he doesn't realize he is currently on the back of Kraken swimming full speed, I'm sure he would bounce around like a happy three years old boy.

"But uncle, are we really sure to... this Hentai-Kamen-Maester?" whispered the Drowned Goddess to her uncle. Apparently the full true name of Marwyn is Hentai-Kamen-Maester; we would keep that in mind.

"Well yes, he is still a Maester after all, and as member of pro-Magic faction inside the Citadel, he already knew the true story behind the Order." said the Old God of The Green while the Drowned Goddess sighed and waved her arm in front of Marwyn's grinning face.

"A small part of my powers of healing to help you fulfill your maesterly vows." said the Drowned Goddess while rolling her eyes toward her uncle. "This seems to be redundant; Squid-NEET already has healing powers... two healers, really?"

"Squid-NEET is your Warrior-Priest, and I cannot ignore Maesterly vows, mind you, they are still valid." said the Old God of the Greens. "And anyway, for the other part of our blessings, I shall grant you a small part of my powers, the power to lurk around and hide in the shadows, just like my Children of The Forest."

"THANK YOU OLD GOD OF THE GREENS!" said Marwyn while prostrating himself low in front of the Gods.

"You could will yourself and your friends, as long at the others are in position and touching you, to become unnoticeable and not attracting attentions. Be careful though, it only improves the chance of being unnoticeable, not being totally invisible. Determined men could still look past the glamor, so it would be best used in conjunction with hiding places." said the Old God of the Greens.

I shared confused glances with Aeron, a fat guy given the ability to lurk and sneak around? But what are we to judge against the will of the Gods, before remember that Varys, the Master of Whispers, is also supposed to be a plump, fat man, so there lays the rationale, maybe.

"Anyway, Valyrian Steel could be used to amplify your magical powers, for all of you. Masked Maester could wear his mask, and it would amplify the glamor further that only those with strong mind will be able to look past them, considering you already wear some Valyrian Steel chain-link on your neck. Be careful though, if you attract the attentions to yourself at the first place, it won't help much." said the Old God of the Greens.

"You should share your Valyrian Steel rod and rings to your party members." said the Drowned Goddess. "Squid-NEET need the rings to help improve his healing prowess, and gave the rod to Fish-NEET, it could improve his water magic, and later may be melted down and forged into a Valyrian Steel weapon at Winterfell, I am sure Hiki-NEET could do that."

Marwyn frowned upon hearing the Drowned Goddess' order, as he looked toward his rod and rings with sadness. All while I wonder who is the Hiki-NEET, is he a legendary weapon smith or something as working Valyrian Steel is not something common weapon smith could do. And Winterfell? Is Eddard Stark really behind our quest all along?

"Of course in exchange of that, you have two Lordlings owe you for your equipment." said the Old God of the Greens. "And never forget that we basically gave you magical powers for free."

Marwyn gave the rod to me, before he pulls his two rings from his fingers and gave them to Aeron, which immediately put them at his fingers, one in each hand.

"Alright all is set for a proper adventuring party." said the Drowned Goddess with smile in her face. "Anyway Squid-NEET should go to Pyke first, illuminate the Ironborn of the truth, preach the greatness of my name and raise the Axis Order of The Drowned Goddess with you as my prophet. The Drowned God is dead but his legacy may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger."

"I will, o the Beauteous and Most Wise Drowned Goddess." said Aeron solemnly.

"Squid-NEET shall focus on preaching first." said the Drowned Goddess. "Upon the conversion of the Greyjoys, I will grant you Reinhard to be your pet; he will obey your orders and help you upon your journey afterwards. Do not fail me!"

"Thank you for your generosity o Most Generous Drowned Goddess!" Aeron could only prostrate even deeper upon hearing the command.

Really? The Greyjoys get something that would put them on par with the Targaryens? To be fair though, Kraken would be only useful on sea, but having the ability to basically rampage against ships at will would definitely being a game changer for the Ironborn. Someone who commands one could end up...

"Remember that Hiki-NEET would be the rightful ruler of the Ironborn, no funny business with coups or hostile takeovers. You are there to prepare things for him." said Drowned Goddess sternly as if she could read my mind, and something clicked within us, if Hiki-NEET is at Winterfell, and he would be rightful ruler of the Ironborn...

"Hiki-NEET is my nephew Theon, isn't he?" exclaimed Aeron with joy. "Well, at least Balon would rest easy; his son would not turn into a useless greenlander!"

"Isn't he just what, seven years old I heard? Forging Valyrian Steel weapon?" I wondered while looking at the Valyrian Steel rod that is formerly Marwyn's.

"Obviously when he is older you idiot!" scolded the Drowned Goddess and I could only look down in shame. "And as you may already guess, Destruction is your niece who walked the path of explosions; both of them are magic users far more powerful than each of you."

"May I ask you for a favor, Drowned Goddess, Old God of the Greens?" I said while keeping my head low, as this is something that bugs me from the first day I heard about Arya's 'curse/blessing'. "Please lift the requirements of my niece Arya to do her daily explosions, or she will explode herself! At least it would give my family peace of mind!"

The Drowned Goddess looked toward the Old God of the Greens, and they disappeared, the painting turned into normal one, and we realized that the sky already darkened. Aeron glared at me for making the Gods disappear with my rather selfish request, and I could only look down nervously if I just insulted the Gods or something.

...

As Reinhard continue to swim for a significant distance, after quarter of an hour or so, the painting glowed with magic again and the Drowned Goddess and the Old God of the Greens reappears.

"We have heard your selfless request, Fish-NEET, and we would free your niece from her requirements." said the Drowned Goddess with a smirk on her face. "But there is something you must do for us first, if you want to lift the curse on your niece."

"Anything my Gods, anything within my ability."

"Good, go to the Old Wyk and look for a cave hidden under Nagga's Hill. There should be a long way heading underground, and at the end lies a massive cave underneath the sea. I don't really know the details, as it was thousands of years since my last visit there, but there should be my father's old stash of bo... divine potions. Carry them upward and place them upon the altar of the Drowned God, now my altar of course... so you could technically call it the altar of the Drowned Goddess, located between the ribs of Nagga. I would know once you finished your quest, and we would lift the curse upon your niece Arya of House Stark once we retrieved the potions. She will still be able to cast her explosion, but without the requirements of daily casting."

"T... thank you for your mercy, o Drowned Goddess."

"Anyway, be careful, there are some Deep Ones already taking that place for themselves, and they are hostile against us."

Ah alright, so there will be monsters there, so...

"And please be courteous if you meet merlings around your journey, for they are my father's attendants. If you found some being captured by the Deep Ones, release them and let them go back to the ocean."

"Wait, I thought the deep ones are the same as merlings?" questioned Marwyn.

"They are very different breed of aquatic race." said the Drowned Goddess. "Merlings has the upper body similar with you humans, just with their lower body being those of a fish. They worship my Father and some even should be already aware of me. You can't be wrong if you look at a merman, mermaids however... is another question related to the deep ones..."

In front of us, the Gods conjured something that is really typical of the Mermaids depicted in arts, with male and female mermaids' basically just humans who have lower body parts of a fish. I am a bit displeased when they turned out to be clothed rather modestly, with figure hugging clothes made from something waterproof that include covering their fish parts where their genitals should be, very unlike my expectation of bare, or just covered with seashells, mermaid tits.

"Now about the deep ones..."

The conjured image changed into a monstrous being that is clearly not related to human to begin with, more like yellow-green aquatic lizard-snake with clawed hands.

"The deep ones are monsters who worship the Nagga. This is a male Deep One, as you can see, their head is closer to a dragon with their long, sharp fangs, forked snake like tongue, and there are fins instead of hairs. Their upper body has some similarities, but obviously different from male humans, for they are scaled and having fins jutting out of their arms and backs. Their arms end up in four fingered crude claws instead of proper hand, but they still very strong and able to wield weapons with ease. The lower body is those of large serpent with fins jutting along their back central line." said the Drowned Goddess as we look toward the conjured image of the monster.

And suddenly, the conjured image changed again into something... that could be taken as a mermaid, but something is off as it has yellow-green color for her skin and didn't have any hair, just fins at their place. And what distracts us is the very fact that, yes, she is basically naked, with her tits only covered by seashells, and if the lower body isn't serpentine, there should be something... there...

"The female deep ones are slender things, with alluring demonic beauty about them." said the Drowned Goddess with venom on her voice. "They knew it and often use that to lure unwary sailors toward them, and worse, they eat humans and other sapient races, including their own. They are outright demonic in nature; do not fall for their lures!"

"Of course, this task would be a hard one, and you are not actually required to do it at the first place." said the Old God of the Green with a smile. "Arya Stark should be fine as long as she cast her explosion magic daily anyway, so there is no need to worry about her."

I looked toward my two companions, Marwyn already rub his hands on the prospect of studying merlings and the deep ones, while Aeron look as if he is undecided until.

"I do want to see mermaids. If only to help the fish here at the first place." said Aeron with barely hidden eagerness. "We could take mermaids as salt wives, right?"

"Umm... you do can take mermaids for your wives, if they agree at the first place so, why not?" said the Drowned Goddess with smile on her face. "Careful though, do not force yourselves upon them, as that would be an insult and blasphemy against the legacy of my Father."

"Uh... we'll keep that in mind, Drowned Goddess." said Aeron politely.

"And I could sense someone is coming here to meet you. Fish-NEET, wear your armor and helmet! Kamen-Maester, grab a weapon or something." said the Drowned Goddess.

"Are we being attacked?" I asked while frantically opening the bundle where I keep my armor.

"No, unless you screw up badly. You do need to look cool to be presentable though." said the Drowned Goddess before looking toward the darkened, moonlit horizon. "First impression matters, so you can't screw this up. Aeron should already know the customs though."

"What?" I said in bewilderment, but then the painting turned into normal Painting once again. "We don't have any ice magic, how could we look cool at the first place?"

*HOOONK* *HOOOOOONNNKKK*

...

Across the waves, we heard a series of horns emanating from a group of torch-lit longships. Apparently, someone already spotted the Kraken, which is still very visible under the moonlight.

"Ironborns!" I realized who they are as I could see five longships sailing at respectable distance, trying to keep up with how *fast* Reinhard is swimming.

"Iron Victory! That is my brother Victarion's ship!" said Aeron with joyful glee in his eyes. "Wear your armor fish! We must look presentable to greet my brother!"

Presentable? I sniffed off my body and nope, I still smelled like fish market, while the other two actually smelled even worse. I used my water magic to wash my face and hair, but Aeron only chuckled upon my action.

"Pfft, greenlander."

Long story short, I managed to don my armor, even if my feet still feels weird as I forced them inside wet boots. Note to self, buy new boots once we reached Pyke. Due to Aeron's insistence, I wear my sword at my hip, and gave Marwyn a spare sword, as Aeron also wears one.

*HOOONK* *HOOOOOONNNKKK*

We opened the cloth roof upon our wagon. I could see one particularly large ship with black sail and golden kraken sigil proudly displayed on its mast. Torches illuminate the deck of the ships, and I could see someone standing high on top of the bow.

Reinhard, as if understand what to do, actually swim slower as he moved toward the ships. I could hear some screams as the massive Kraken moves closer to them, the faint sounds of rowing drums turned out louder and louder as the crew visibly armed themselves with spears and bows.

As we come closer, Reinhard raised two of his longest tentacles high in the air, bellowing a loud screech as if to answer the horns and drums of the Ironborn ships. Aeron jump out of the wagon to stand at Reinhard's head, patting it as if trying to cam him down.

"HALT YOUR MEN VICTARION! ITS ME, AERON! WE COME IN PEACE!" Aeron stood tall as he suddenly stood high on top of one of Reinhard's tentacle.

"AERON?! YOU ARE THE KRAKEN RIDER?!" shouted the deep reply that presumably come from Victarion Greyjoy. "PRAISE THE DROWNED GOD!"

A massive cheer erupted from the surrounding ships, as I could see the Ironborn lowered their spears and bows.

"COME CLOSER! THE KRAKEN OBEYS MY COMMAND! HE WON'T ATTACK YOU UNLESS PROVOKED FIRST!" shouted Aeron, and I could hear Victarion shouted something to his crew, as the largest ship, the one with black sail and golden kraken sigil, started to row toward our position.

And yes, Victarion's ship is still larger than Reinhard, but the other four are very obviously dwarfed by our Kraken.

Aeron mentioned for us to come with him, as we end up jumping on top of Reinhard's head. From there, one of Reinhard's tentacle carefully gripped the part of Victarion's ship, causing everyone there to flee except a tall, broad, fully armored man with long, dark brown hair who appears to not fearing the Kraken at the first place, as he just shook his head and throw us a rope ladder, which proves to be no use as the other tentacle picked Aeron, Myself, and Marwyn and deposited us gently upon the ship's hull.

"How do you know we are here, Victarion?" said Aeron while embracing his brother with a hug, which must be awkward because he reeked like a pile of rooting sea creatures, but apparently, the larger Greyjoy didn't even notice the smell.

"Some fishermen reported a Kraken swimming across the surface, which is unusual as Kraken are said to be deep-sea dweller. Balon ordered me to bring the Kraken unto him, but you turned out to be riding it all along." said Victarion before he suddenly knelt in front of Aeron.

"What should we say to our eldest brother my Lord?" said Victarion with a serious expression upon his face. "My axes are yours to command, chosen of the Drowned God."

And I remembered why the Drowned Goddess warned us to not doing coup or something, considering that apparently Balon's own son is the chosen of the Drowned Goddess.

"Uh... Victarion, I'm not here to wrestle our brother's rightful lordship upon the Ironborn. That Seastone Chair is not mine to take, Balon shall sit upon it until the Hiki-NEET, the bringer of death and decay, our nephew, is ready for the task." said Aeron while signing for Victarion to not kneel in front of him.

"But he is currently raised among the Greenlanders; shall we raid Winterfell and bring back Theon?"

"No dammit, the Drowned Goddess tells us that this is her will, and there is a reason why the Old Gods planned for all of this, we must save mankind! The North would be our natural ally in the struggle against the Seven-Faced Demons!"

"You said Drowned Goddess... and the Kraken... what happened to the Drowned God?"

"Dead, murdered by the Seven-Faced Demons and his daughter is our new Drowned Goddess. It was a long story... The Seven-Faced Demons corrupted the true religion of the first men, and turning us against each others while the Seven-Faced Demons defile the land with their demonic rites."

"Drowned God... Dead?" whispered Victarion as his face turned pale.

"I'll explain everything, the Second Long Night is coming upon us, and it is our duty to help the Old Gods. And don't look at me like that, you know the long debate amongst the Drowned Men upon which Gods of the first men is the real ones, turned out they all real, and they all threatened by the Four Greater Demon Kings."

"But... the Storm God."

"Correction, Storm Goddess, the late Storm Goddess... she was Drowned God's estranged wife, going mad sometime during Age of Heroes after one of their daughter was kidnapped and raped by Durran Godsgrief." said Aeron bluntly. "Don't look at me like that, that is the truth that was revealed upon me, and even then, she was the mother of current Drowned Goddess."

"Was?"

"The Storm Goddess is dead, being the first causality murdered by the Seven-Faced Demons after she spent most of her powers trying to take down Storm's End."

"That explained the love-hate relationship between the Drowned God and Storm God, I meant Goddess..."

"Complicated deity business, but believe me, everything would be revealed once we reached Pyke." said Aeron while the other crew members started to walk closer to Reinhard's tentacle, looking it with curiosity now instead of fear.

"Your companions... they are Greenlanders!"

"Should I..." I whispered to Aeron, and he just sign that yes, there is no need to cover my existence here, news travel slow between Iron Islands and Westeros mainland anyway.

"He is Edmure Tully, the convert to the Old Gods' cause, and Marwyn, archmaester who studied the lore of magic, both of them are magic users and so do I." said Aeron with smile on his face.

"Edmure... Tully? That infamous Edmure Tully who is rumored to be water-sorcerer?"

"Uh yeah, that was complicated, but I am devotee of the Drowned Goddess now." I exchange polite nods with Victarion, even as he raised his eyebrows.

"Well, what can I say, the will of the Gods themselves..." said Victarion while signing to one of his crewmember. Soon, I and Marwyn found ourselves eating bread and salt together, signing that we are now the honored guests of Victarion Greyjoy. At least, something other than half-dried and raw horsemeat, I didn't mind even if Ironborn bread is somewhat stale.

"So, that's it. You should go ahead and inform Balon of our arrival, we'll meet in front of the Pyke tomorrow." said Aeron with a smile. "And you wouldn't mind if we ask for some food and drinks, right?"

Wait, what? Why should we continue our journey on top of Reinhard while there are perfectly fine longships... Oh right, the Holy Icon of the Drowned Goddess is still in our wagon.

"Anything for the Drowned Goddess, brother." said Victarion while signing his crew to bring some bread and ale for us.

After saying our farewell, we jumped into the waiting body of Reinhard the Kraken. Can't blame Aeron for wanting to spend one more day on top of Kraken-back, at least we have bread and ale for dinner tonight.

Well, what can I say now, as looking from Victarion's easy acceptance of truth, maybe converting the Ironborn to the real religion prescribed by the Drowned Goddess herself would be easy. But considering we also have a Kraken to back ourselves, and being a very obvious sign of the Drowned Goddess' favor.

I hope everything would turn out right until I must face whatever underwater cave the Drowned Goddess mentioned to collect the divine potions. This is the least I could do to make sure Cat and my father to not worry about Arya Stark again. Honor, Family, Duty, and I cannot forget my duty to my family, as lifting that particularly unpleasant part of her blessing would be the most honorable thing to do.

...

 **Pyke, 289 AC**

This morning, the Pyke is within sight, and it is really as weird as the rumors about them said. Standing on top of eroded cliffs, the green-black castle has a very unusual appearance, with several keeps and towers visibly standing on separate islands, linked by bridges between them.

There are curtain walls around the castle, but it stopped at the water margin and turned into a line of sharp, jagged rocks and mossy ruins.

The Castle itself shown some damages like cracked walls and broken towers, but unlike many ruined castle, that wrecks and ruins looks relatively new, so that must be the result of the latest assault on Pyke at the end of Greyjoy Rebellion.

Still, the repairs was already started, as we could see construction platforms and ladders being erected upon the walls and even some jutting out from the keeps and towers located at the islands.

Naturally though, there are many people standing on top of the Castle Wall as well as sitting on top of the repair platform, looking at us.

Of course, having a giant Kraken visibly swimming toward the front drawbridge of the castle is not something they would see every day, but having a giant Kraken visibly swimming toward the front drawbridge of the castle carrying a ruined wagon with three men standing on top of the now opened wagon, would be the first in thousands of years (honestly don't know if previous Kings of Iron Isles could tame a Kraken like this, but definitely not in the last thousands of years or so, Marwyn told us).

As we already prepared ourselves according to Aeron's guidance, both of us already donned the whole armor, including helmets and basically, looking presentable according to the Ironborn custom. Marwyn, the one who doesn't have any armor, end up must be content wearing his mask and wearing a spare sword at his hip.

Aeron carried the Holy Icon of the Drowned Goddess in his arms, while I carry the Kraken painting that would be given to Balon Greyjoy once we went there. Marwyn? Oh, he ended up stuck being tasked to haul the chests filled with our belongings and carried our spare weapons upon his body, as he has the lowest status, and thus must act as our manservant for the time being. I tried to argue that maybe Aeron could just call some servants to haul those things, but Marwyn said he didn't mind as he gratefully accepted the duty without question, even if his title as Maester demands some modicum of respect unto him.

...

As we get near, Reinhard constricts the longest pair of his tentacles around our ruined wagon, and raise us high past the forty feet cliff where the bridge stands and deposited us directly in front of the bridge that leads directly to the main gate. Earning us a lot of awe and 'Praise the Drowned God' shouts from the many Ironborn onlookers.

"Do we need to say something? I mean this seems like a time to say something because this is an important moment or..." questioned Marwyn.

"I was thinking the same thing, but I could not come up with anything..." whispered Aeron.

"Just keep quiet and start walking toward the group who awaits us inside the gate. Can't be wrong with silence." I whispered.

We started to walk out from our wrecked wagon, strutting in full armor, and proudly bearing the Holy Icon of the Drowned Goddess as well as the Kraken painting, all while Marwyn end up exerting all his strength hauling all our belongings behind us.

Silence hangs between us as we keep walking toward the three men that stand tall awaiting us under the gate. The man in the center is tall and thin, with long gray hair, wearing blackened plate mail armor over sand colored gambeson and yellow cloak, and he leaned upon an ornate greatsword. The one at the right is Victarion Greyjoy with his lobstered plate armor over blackened mail and leather, carrying a battle axe at his shoulder, a longsword at his hip, and he leaned upon a big kite shield with Greyjoy sigil painted upon it. The one at the left, a man with eye patch upon his left eye, black shoulder-length hair and short trimmed beard, and unlike the other two, he is unarmored as he simply wears black sleeveless leather vest upon bone white shirt and dark brown trousers, the only sign that he is a warrior is that he wear two slender bladed swords of Braavosi design at his hip, one is visibly longer than the other.

Several more men stand at their side. Bearded, long haired men in green, grey, and blue robes, with seaweed woven into their hair and beard. They continuously sprinkle the way with something that smells like seawater while chanting 'what is dead may never die but rises again harder and stronger'.

We just keep walking until Aeron stops, opened his helmet and politely bow toward his brothers as I immediately followed suit. Marwyn is still dragging our belongings behind us, but he also stopped to bow. The man at the center just nod upon our salute but the other two returns our bows.

Ah well, the gray haired man must be none other than the infamous Balon Greyjoy, and the man with eye patch must be none other than the cruel Euron Greyjoy.

"Aeron... my brother... The Kraken itself is enough sign that your words were the truth. I must ask you for forgiveness first as what I have done to disown you, was wrong." said Balon Greyjoy politely.

"The Kraken has a name, his name is Reinhard, and the Drowned Goddess summoned him from the depth of the ocean to serve as our transport." said Aeron while mentioning to the Kraken, which apparently still lounging under the cliff, his tentacles being still visible up in the air. "If you don't mind, give him a cow or something else to eat."

Without much fanfare, Victarion mentioned for a servant to fetch a cow for the Kraken, and some servants immediately run to do their task.

"Is it true that the Drowned God is dead?" said Balon solemnly.

"Aye brother, slain by the Seven-Faced Demons. In his place, his daughter the Drowned Goddess, and I am her Prophet, we are her Heralds." said Aeron while raising the Holy Icon of the Drowned Goddess, and everyone knelt in front of the Holy Icon.

I could see the man with eye patch, however, twitched his eyebrows as if he is still a skeptic to the power of the Drowned Goddess. He still kneeled though, so I didn't bring it up further. I also realize that there is a crow perching on top of the gatehouse, just above the man with eye patch.

"Arise, my brothers." said Aeron while lowering the Holy Icon of the Drowned Goddess. "The Drowned Goddess demands a private audience with you, Balon of House Greyjoy."

"As the Drowned Goddess wish." said Balon Greyjoy as he hugged Aeron, and another servant brings him a plate of bread and salt. I mentally winced as Balon Greyjoy seems to not notice our smell at all and just hugged his smelly brother who doesn't even bathe for days.

Soon afterwards, our formal status as guests under Balon Greyjoy is completed as we eat his bread and salt.

...

"This painting of the Drowned Goddess I carry is a holy icon that at this point, cannot be duplicated. I will show you why." said Aeron as he walked alongside his brothers toward what I presume, to be Balon Greyjoy's solar.

But much to our surprise, the eye patched Greyjoy, Euron, end up turning his back toward me and Marwyn.

"Brothers, it would be impolite if we left our honorable guest Lord Edmure of House Tully waiting here. Allow me to accompany him to his room at the Guest Keep." said Euron with a smile and a bow toward Balon.

"Very well, but are you sure you want to miss the revelation?" questioned Balon.

"I trust that your words would be enough, as I must entertain our honorable guest first." said Euron with a bow. Oh well, this guy, despite exuding aura of creepiness, turned out to be a rather decent, polite guy after all. Well, I could use a bath first before the next meeting, and I could already guessed what will be spoken between the Greyjoy brothers in private, so.

"Very well, here's Aeron's painting of your house sigil." I exchanged another polite bow with Victarion as I hand out the Kraken painting to him.

"Thank you."

As we walked together across bridge into the Great Keep; Aeron, Balon, and Victarion headed into a stair that apparently would lead toward Balon's solar, which is supposed to be accessible on the furthest tower accessible only by a series of bridges. I almost walked with them, but Euron tapped my shoulder and politely show the direction of the Guest Keep across a covered stone walkaway.

"I shall be your guide here, Lord Tully." said Euron politely.

"Call me Ser Edmure, I am not rebelling against my father, contrary to the rumors."

"Oh, you still keep your Knightly title then?"

"Contrary to the claim made by Faith of The Seven. A Knight is simply someone who sworn to uphold honor and following the code of Chivalry, in which never require someone to believe in the Seven at the first place." I explained. "In fact, there are Knights who keep the Old Gods such as the Barrow Knights of the North."

"Ah, pardon me for my assumption then." said Euron with a chuckle as we keep walking across the walkaway as he looks back toward Marwyn, who still drag our belongings behind us. "Is he your manservant? He obviously need some help."

"Not really, but thank you for the offer." I said while Euron mentioned for two other servants to help Marwyn carrying our belongings behind us. "He is actually a Maester who ends up following us in our journey at Lannisport."

"I see... Is the Drowned Goddess grants him magical powers as well?" questioned Euron politely. Well, maybe despite the rumors about his cruelty, this man turned out to be rather pleasant after all. Well, maybe he is indeed cruel to his vanquished enemies, but respectful to his peers, just like most nobles would do then.

"Of course, he was granted magical powers by the Drowned Goddess and the Old God of the Greens over his study of the lore of the Arcane, and his sheer devotion to our cause."

"Make sense." said Euron with a charming smile while we walked into a rather well furnished chamber closest to the bridge, and as I can see, the scenery visible from the window is simply beautiful as we directly look into the western horizon of the Sea. "I hope this chamber shall suit your tastes, we will give you the best services here."

"Thank you very much for your considerations."

"And for the Maester, his chamber would be the next chamber." said Euron after Marwyn finished hauling our belongings into my room with the other servants helping. "If there is anything you need, you could just ask the servants, and we shall provide within our capability."

"Ah, that was very generous of you." I nodded as the Servants led Marwyn into his own private chamber.

"Of course, you will want the privacy... We shall provide everything within our capability, including companies of women if you wish." Euron whispered conspiratorially upon my ear. "We are still reeling after the war, and Lordsport is still in ruin, but I assure you we still have the finest choice of women worthy to warm the bed of a Lord."

I gulped at Euron's offer, oh well... It's not like I was an innocent boy after all. I do have experience with some maidservants at Riverrun, and have visited Whorehouse before, under my father's nose of course, but still.

Then I remembered the reason why the most beauteous Drowned Goddess Aqua did choose me over being a romantic, chivalrous young Knight belonging to a Noble House of high standing. And being in Holy Mission, I am not sure if I would be permitted to sleep around with girls, as I never asked about that to the Drowned Goddess herself. Judged as being a romantic did suggest having an idealized conduct in that matter anyway. So while the offer is definitely a very tempting one, I can't risk the wrath of the Beauteous, Most Pure, and Wise Drowned Goddess, and thus with heavy heart, I decided to postpone the gratification of the flesh before having a clear idea of the Drowned Goddess' position upon this matter.

"No, thank you... in other circumstances, I will accept your generous offer, but at this point, I am on a Holy Mission given by the Gods themselves."

"Understandable." answered Euron with a polite nod in agreement with my statement. "I will not press on that matter then, but if you are having a change of mind, feel free to inform us."

"Anyway, Aeron's task here is to enlighten the Ironborn about the Axis Order of the Drowned Goddess. But our overarching task would be the one to find Darkness." maybe this guy do have some clue upon something that could be constructed as Darkness near here. "Darkness is on an island, surrounded by roaring dark blue sea."

"Are you sure the Drowned Goddess did not refer toward journey of self discovery?" said Euron with a charming, understanding smile. "The news from the mainland do mentioned about you as Darkness incarnate."

"Eh?" I grinned upon hearing this kind of thing again, just like what Leo Lefford said before.

"Darkness drowned, awakened, too early... that was our only clue outside of whatever Darkness is, must be upon an island surrounded by dark blue sea."

"The sea around here is not dark blue, I must admit, more like blue-green over the seaweed." said Euron with a smile. "The sea here is not particularly deep, the deep ones are on the western side of Saltcliffe and Great Wyk, but they are not exactly surrounded by deep blue sea..."

"Oh... is there any islands surrounded by deep blue sea here?" I politely ask because this is our only clue.

"You could try Old Wyk, it has deep, dark blue sea around the Isles despite being located between Great Wyk and Orkmont. Blacktyde is also surrounded by deep, dark blue seas, and the Lonely light is even deeper. I think that would mean the Drowned Goddess may actually ask you to be drowned and resuscitated somewhere around those islands."

"Drowned?"

"The ritual of drowning, the Baptism."

"Ah, I see..."

"Anyway, when I was a boy, I dream I could fly... do you recall having a similar dream in your childhood?" said Euron while looking out toward the sea.

"I never recalled having a dream that involve flying in my childhood, but I once dream about the Drowned Goddess. Oh wait, she slapped me and sent me flying." I recalled my dream when the Drowned Goddess first tried to contact me.

"Slapped you and... sent you flying?" questioned Euron with raised eyebrows. "Not ordering you to leap from some tall tower?"

"Actually I was slapped as we screamed toward each other's faces, I jumped out in confusion and somehow my body keeps flying into the sky."

The expression upon Euron's face is hilarious, as his jaw literally dropped and his eye turned wider in a shock. "Slapped? All you need to do to fly in your dream was being slapped?"

"The Drowned Goddess' slap left mark on my face, even as I awakened."

"..." Euron's eyebrows twitched in disbelief.

"Really."

"The Crow never visit you and dares you to leap?"

"Crow what?"

"Black crow with three eyes."

"Never see anything like that, honestly."

"Even in your dream?"

"Nope."

"I lost my eye when the Crow ordered me to leap." said Euron with a sigh and a frown. "And you fly because of a slap, for all things."

"To be fair, it was started when we scream toward each other." I tried to cheer the one eyed squid up. "And it was not like I deliberately fly or something like that."

"You... you and the Drowned Goddess scream toward each other?" said Euron with a slight smirk on his face. "Oh well, that explains why you did not want to get women to warm your bed."

"That was not what you think!" I said in panic as I just realize what Euron implied upon his words. His chuckles definitely imply we scream to each other because we're doing... that...

"Heh, there's no need to hide that." Euron keeps his friendly chuckles. "I am not a green boy you know... hmmm..."

"Stop it."

"I won't judge you over that, the legends were true..." said Euron while he walked outside the door. "If you need anything, just call the servants."

"That's not..."

"Next time I met with that Crow again, I'll make sure to do that, but I'm not sure on how to do that with a crow."

"What?"

"Nothing." said Euron with a smile before he walked out of my room.

What just happened anyway? Why Euron Greyjoy, of all people, asking me about dreams of flying, and apparently he ended up with conclusion that I have done the unthinkable thing with the Drowned Goddess.

Before talking something about a crow, three eyed crow or something...

Damn, I must ask Aeron about this... unexpected development, and maybe the Drowned Goddess could enlighten me about Euron's weird assumption.

...

The rest of the day go in as I took a long, hot bath, a formal lunch in midday, getting our weapons, armor and other things cleaned up and readjusted by the castle Blacksmith.

As I and Marwyn head up to the Kitchen Keep for dinner, as we passed the bridge, I hear a series of loud squawks and then see a black bird flies fast, really, really fast from the inside of the Sea Tower directly to the north.

But maybe that's just my imagination.


	19. PART 19 : THEON

**PART 19 : THEON / KAZUMA**

 **Winterfell, 289 AC**

It has been sixty days since the execution of the spy at Winterfell. A month and a half passed since Lord and Lady Stark, along with their daughter Sansa went to Riverrun. But according to the raven Maester Luwin received two days ago, Lord and Lady Stark will leave Riverrun soon.

Yes, I realize that the sense of time here is a bit off compared to those of Earth. Here, due to seasons that could go on for years, people actually keeping years according to their lunar cycles, with a year consist of twelve months, but here, every month consists of thirty-two days, giving a year being three hundred eighty-four days long, slightly longer than what I used to have on earth.

But with all of that, apparently they still have the seven days week here, thanks to the influence of both Seven-Faced Demons, and Valyria to some extent. The one with the Seven should be obvious, as they named their days fatherday, motherday, warriorday, maidday, smithday, croneday, and strangeday; and those are used in all Westeros from thousands of years ago. The Valyrian influence, however, coming from the names of their fourteen peaks, alternating between the seven inner peaks and seven outer peaks, something that is still used in the eastern continent of Essos and beyond.

Anyway, today is strangeday, twentieth day of the ninth month, two hundred and eighty-nine years after Aegon's conquest. And why did I think all about this? Because this day's lesson from Maester Luwin is about calendar and timekeeping, duh, and everyone keept looking at me funny when I reflexively thought a month is thirty days long, and for thinking forty-eight days is a month and eighteen days, instead of a month and sixteen days, and oh, for reflexively said that a year is three hundred and sixty-five days instead of being the 'proper' three hundred and eighty-four days.

Fortunately, it was all brushed off as being bad Ironborn education on my parents' parts, while in actuality that was partially my own fault for thinking I could simply skip off most elementary educations.

This world is so unlike Eris' world, who conveniently having similar year length, month length, season length, and in calendar sense basically identical with Earth (with just different holidays), that in retrospect, felt like whoever originally is in control of the calendar just lazily slapping Earth timekeeping method into their use.

Please don't tell me that the one in charge on making calendar there is the same person who made Mobile Fortress Destroyer, Crimson Demon Race, and Sadistic Bishojo Golem, as that would be too much cringe for me to bear, despite the very fact I am not on Eris' realm anymore.

...

Anyway, my seventh birthday, or here called as nameday, would be two days from now. But aside of being measured for training armor, as I would then expected to start martial aspect of a noble's education at the age seven; there are nothing special about that.

This reincarnation business turned out to be supremely awkward in hindsight with regard to my relationship with Megumin too. The fact that instead of closing our age gap, our age gap actually widened, from two and a half years into three and a half years, and that's not counting the increased year length in this new realm.

Being seven years old boy dating three and a half years old girl definitely feels weird to us, even if to onlookers who didn't know our true mental age, they would deem us as just children playing with each other.

And as the result, most of the time I tried to spent time together with Megumin, Robb and Jon almost always barging in and pestering us. Usually end up with the boys dragging me to play with them instead, while Megumin only laughed at those six years olds' antics.

Seriously, everyone here already notices that instead of being seen like a proper little sister, Megumin actually acted more and more like elder sister to Robb and Jon.

...

After spending this morning learning about calendar and timekeeping, we sit together at the dining hall while eating our lunch.

"Jon, eat your cabbages." said Megumin sternly, looking at how Jon Snow not touching his share of vegetables at all and lecture him about being picky eater. "The cooks already have hard time fighting those fresh vegetables; don't let their hard work go in vain!"

And Robb and Jon laugh their ass off at that remark.

Alright, maybe not exactly seen like elder sister lecturing her younger siblings, but a younger sister that try to act like elder sister and failed miserably. For Megumin still thought vegetables are capable of flying and fighting sometimes, causing both Robb and Jon to laugh their ass off every time Megumin claimed that.

"Arya, for the fifth time, Cabbages cannot fly and bludgeon people to death." said Jon after wiping his tears of laughter.

"Why can't you just believe me?" said Megumin while Jon rustled her hair. "I told you, there are flying cabbages out there! Right Theon?"

"I told you, vegetables here can't fly!" I rolled my eyes upon Megumin's attempt to drag me to back up her stupid arguments.

"Our little sister thought flowers should run away." Robb snorted. "With how she root out some winter roses, trying to make them race each other. Luckily father was not here, or he will pull her ears for that."

"Uuuuuu..." cried Megumin with a pout. "You... You all jerk! One day I will prove to you that there are flying vegetables who could bludgeon men to death! Especially you Trashz... Theon!"

Uh-oh, here it comes again... Megumin started tearing up and running back to her room at the nursery. I just shrugged as the puppies laugh looking at their sister's antics.

"Why did she always insist that Vegetables could fly and bludgeon people to death?" questioned Robb while he snatched the uneaten cabbages from Jon's plate.

"Maybe that was magic again?" said Jon. "A flying horde of cabbages pelting hapless men underneath is really scary kind of magic."

"That's because you hate cabbages Jon." said Robb with a smirk. "Bet that would be awesome magic to have too, I wish I could have that."

"Please do not tempt the Gods with stupid wishes like that." I warned the boys. "Lord Stark has said that wasting foods is dishonorable when someone else need it more. He would never approve using cabbages as bludgeon."

Robb frowned, and I could only imagine him summoning a storm of cabbages raining down from the sky on a battlefield. Only for Lord Stark to reprimand him afterwards for essentially throwing foods away.

"In that case, I shall use a Direwolf sitting upon a pile of cabbage as my personal coat of arms." said Robb proudly, not realizing on how ridiculous that sigil would be.

"Cabbage is coming?" said Jon while raising his eyebrows toward his brother's bold statement.

"Yes, cabbage is coming! Is there anything wrong with that?" said Robb.

Sometimes I forgot how ridiculous six years old boys could be, and Megumin cried because of them. Oh well.

Now if only I could shake off these two boys to have a private talk with Megumin...

...

This afternoon, after getting tired playing wooden swords, pulling pranks on the servants, and running around with the boys, I walked alone across the stables. Robb and Jon already head off first to take their nap at their room, as they were really tired.

Well, to be fair, all of us are tired from the exertion, and planned to just nap until dinnertime, but that's where drain touch become handy. As I passed the stables, as I predicted before, I met with a certain big idiot whose word is just 'Hodor' like a pokemon.

He lounges on top of a pile of hay, chewing some straws in his mouth as he lazily looked towards the horses. He was often sleep overnight in the stables anyway, so he would be the ideal victim of my drain touch, as I do need his stamina right here, right now as this is one of the few chances to speak with Megumin in private without Robb and Jon bothering us, so...

Nobody is looking toward here, and Hodor is looking the other way... perfect.

I muttered a silent sorry toward the big idiot before placing my hand on his neck and drain him of his life force until he falls asleep. I never done this skill before in this world, but I still remember enough to not overdrain him.

Well, that goes without a hitch, as my tiredness gone and I feel refreshed again. Sorry Hodor, but I need to borrow your strength, literally.

...

"What took you so long Trashzuma? Stealing a maidservant's smallcloth again?" said Megumin, hands akimbo while standing on top of her coot, as I closed the nursery door. "Are you corrupting my brothers to follow your lewd path?"

"Actually not this time, we're just playing with wooden weapons." I rolled my eyes after her accusation. "And that case involving those damned smallclothes only happened four times, I was just curious about what they wear at the North the first time, another time it was to practice my stealing skill again, and the other two are requests from your dear brothers."

"I don't know what kind of pleasure you experience as you sniffed those smallclothes and I don't want to know, for they barely resemble panties. At least try to not drag my brothers into your trashy lifestyle, they are still innocent boys' dammit!"

"Have no worry; we dispose those panties discreetly near the barracks. If anyone found them, the suspicion would be upon one of your father's men-at-arms."

"And now you admit teaching my brothers how to become scums like you." said Megumin with a pout. "Do that again and I'll tell that to my father."

"Hey, don't even think about..."

"Old nan told me that some maids complained about suddenly missing their smallclothes while being worn. They are afraid of the Ghost of Theon Stark the hungry wolf being out from the Crypts and teasing the maidservants, little do they know that the real culprit also named Theon as well."

"Uh... the maids actually complained?" My heart stopped at the realization of that. "Really?"

"Really. And you just smear the name of my ancestor!" said Megumin while pointing her finger toward me.

"That must be something else on why the maidservants thought why that Theon Stark of yours is the thief." I shrugged. "Your ancestors aren't exactly nice guys like your father, and even that, your father still ends up with Jon anyway..."

"My father... was a scum..." Megumin look down upon the mention of Jon being a bastard, the only thing that bothered her when she thought about her family.

"Calm down, you do know the norm here is not that different from Belzerg right? Your father and mother are in arranged political marriage for Gods' sake. He cheated your mother with his old love back then when they are still being newlywed and not yet loving each other. Your father seems to have learned his lesson as after that, nobody ever seen your father having a woman other than your mother, not even mentioning who Jon's mother is, even to Jon himself. Compared to what happened in my home at Pyke, your father is definitely far better behaved!"

"What did your father..."

"Well, my father has no salt wife to speak of, but sometimes if he had his fight with my mother, what is dead cannot rise again harder and stronger, so he would order a whore to resuscitate his manhood. Yes, don't look at me like that, that was what my father said to me when I was just a four years old with Asha-nee-chan at my side. If that wasn't traumatizing enough to real children..." I said while remembering those accidents that myself and Asha-nee-chan end up seeing how brazenly our father Balon justifies his actions with his insane troll logic. I hope my nee-chan did not get too traumatized from that.

"That was very scummy of your father, Scumzuma..."

"That was not too bad compared to my uncle Victarion, he has three salt wives with him at once, and he often jested about how this made him the most manly of the Greyjoys."

"Three? At once? Wait, your uncle has three wives?"

"That's kind of it; Ironborn culture permits us to have one rock wife, the real legal wife to speak of, but also unlimited numbers of mistresses. Wait, nobody told you about that yet?"

"I am an innocent three years old girl dammit!" said Megumin while whacking my head with her little fist. "And I will file complaint to Aqua about your trashy Ironborn culture!"

"That was likely her father's fault. The original Water-God-Who-Drowned, or the Drowned God, he seems to be an even bigger idiot than Aqua, to be honest."

"Ne Kazuma... what are you thinking about our relationship?" said Megumin softly.

"With you being physically three and a half years old, everything would be creepy. You are still a toddler dammit!"

"And you are seven years old! I am not a shotacon!" said Megumin hotly.

"Says a loli herself, pfft..."

"Just promise me that you will wait..." said Megumin while putting her head upon my shoulder. "Sometimes I still regret about why I end up dragging you into this mess instead of going to reincarnate with you in Japan."

"Well, that's kind of already too late for you to regret about that..." I ruffled Megumin's hair. "Our job here is making the most with whatever we get, at least I could meet you this early on, and I am grateful for that."

"What if Darkness was here, and she is old enough to be with you? Will you leave me for her?"

"That... that... would never happen..."

"Promise me you will wait for me and you will never, ever, ever, take a salt wife, even Darkness." said Megumin sternly.

"I promise."

"Good, your birthday would be two days from now, right?" questioned Megumin with a smile on her face.

"Sure, but apparently I may end up spending the entirety of my birthday, or nameday here at the training ground."

"I wish we could go for a date, but I'll settle to just sit together with you at the Godswoods tomorrow." said Megumin with a smile on her face.

"I want to say promise, but what if your brothers end up tagging alongside me just like the usual times?"

"Just let them come and say you were tired or something so you only want to sit around. Anyway, what have you done to them? Usually they would start barging in already."

"They were too tired after playing and decide to nap before dinner. I too, was tired and almost go to nap, but then there is Hodor at the stables."

"You... you use drain touch on Hodor?" said Megumin with her mouth open.

"Pfft... as if he would notice, and nobody would be too bothered with that dimwit falling asleep on top of a pile of hay like he usually did." I smirked. "Getting extra stamina is easier than restraining your brothers from following me."

"That was kind of unexpected." said Megumin.

"Let's get to the dining hall together, shall we?" I walked toward the door as Megumin jumped behind me.

...

As we walked through the corridors, we could see some commotion at the outside, and decided to see what happened.

Apparently most of the guards and servants are heading toward the stables, from where a loud wail of "I AM SORRY!" could be heard coming out loud.

"What happened?" I asked a random guard who apparently have a better look on what happened.

"Hodor talks again, and he said something about the late Lady Lyanna." said the guard with serious face.

Megumin stared at me and tug me into more secluded part of the way.

"What did you do to Hodor?" she whispered.

"I... I don't know, I just used drain touch on him to siphon some of his stamina, that's all."

...

"I AM SORRY! I AM SORRY! I AM SORRY LORD RICKARD! I AM SORRY FOR WHAT HAPPENED TO LADY LYANNA! I AM SORRY! I WILL TAKE THE BLACK FOR WHAT I HAVE DONE!" said the formerly one-word idiot as we get closer to where he kneels and cried at the stables.

"Calm down Walder... what happened?" said Old Nan, with Rodrik Cassel standing at their side.

"I... I skinchanged into Lady Lyanna's horse, so she could escape Harrenhal... Lord Benjen..." said Hodor as he cried his heart out over something that I didn't have any clue at the first place.

"Skinchange? You are a... skinchanger? A warg?" said Rodrik with wide eyes. "Lady Lyanna? Lord Benjen?"

Hodor only nod upon that two unfamiliar name, I remembered something about them, but then...

"Silence Walder! Silence!" said Rodrik sternly, as Hodor about to open his mouth again.

"Why this happened when Lord Eddard is not here..." cried Old Nan.

"EVERYONE LEAVE! THIS IS A COMMAND! LEAVE!" shouted Rodrik with his stern commanding voice. "You will go with us to Maester Luwin, Walder, and keep your silence until that!"

We tried to go with them, but behind me, someone placed his hand in front of us, forbid me and Megumin from following Rodrik and Hodor to Maester's turret.

"Jory, what..."

"This is not something for children to hear, please leave." said Jory Cassel while he shook his head. "Even I can't accompany them either, uncle Rodrik said that was a command."

Megumin looked at me weird once again, before a maidservant end up scooping Megumin into her arm and a guard told me to come with them to the dining hall. I end up walking with the guard and the maidservant all the way to the dining table, where the maid placed Megumin down on the floor. Another pair of guards could be seen ushering the still sleepy Robb and Jon toward us as well.

"Ser Rodrik told us to accompany Lady Arya to her daily explosion." said one of the guard with a smile. "As currently there is a very important matter for Maester Luwin to attend."

"We are sorry for this sudden overseeing, but please bear with us, young lords." said the other guard politely.

And thus, unlike the usual dinner, only few maids are seen. Even our food was carried from the kitchen by guards instead of maidservants.

"What happened?" questioned Robb when he regained his wit.

"Honestly, I also have no idea, young lord." said the guard with an uncomfortable smile. "Other than this being a very serious matter that Ser Rodrik end up barring everyone from entering a radius from Maester's turret."

Tonight, we end up eating our dinner in silence, and even Megumin keep her chant at minimum as she chants her explosion with the most basic chant instead of the usual long-winded chuuni ones, as the gravity of our situation becomes much more apparent.

What the hell just happened anyway?

I just used drain touch upon Hodor the idiot stablehand, why did he suddenly end up talking like normal?

...

It was still dark when I was awakened.

Well, that was expected, I can't sleep well with all the ruckus I accidentally caused yesterday, with how Hodor was suddenly de-idiot-ized when all I wanted was just to drain some of his stamina. His subsequent confession about some kind of past crime that involve Lord Stark's late sister caused some sort of turmoil in Winterfell, where they seem to be extremely concerned about something that we, children, never understood or even told about at the first place.

Yes I have heard about the Lyanna name a few times, but always in conjunction with her kidnapping by the mad Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, it must be a shock to everyone that Hodor was actually involved in that.

To be fair, that wasn't my problem at the first place, considering Hodor, even with his sanity back, should not be able to identify me at the first place. That could be just a mere coincidence that I drain touch him, and he regained his sanity afterwards.

...

As I walked out from my room towards the kitchen, I see an unusual numbers of guards patrolling the hallways and corridors. Sure, there are servants, but they seem to work in silence compared to the usual hustle-bustle.

"You're awake?" said one of the guards when they notice me walking into the kitchen. "Still very early in the morning, squid ward."

"I am hungry." I just said the first thing I have in mind, because yes, I do feel a bit hungry.

"Hungry?" said another guard. "Breakfast at sunrise squid ward, please go back to your room, Ser Rodrik is still in foul mood after yesterday."

I tried using my best impression of puppy dog eyes, or maybe Kraken-spawn eyes if you want to be pedantic about my house sigil. That seems to work on one of the guards at the end, so.

"Alright, guess it can't be helped huh? Boys sure to eat a lot these days." said the first guard with soft smile on his face while pointing a maidservant toward one of the food cabinet.

A maidservant took a small piece of bread from the cabinet alongside a piece of dried meat.

"I hope this should be enough until proper breakfast, squid ward." said the guard. "I suggest you to go back to sleep."

"Thank you." I said as I started to walk to a nearby table to eat, but much to my surprise, the other guard poked my shoulder.

"Just eat them in your room, squid."

"Why?"

"Because Ser Rodrik may pass here, and last time we see him, he was still in foul mood after throwing Hodor into the dungeon."

"Oh..." I said before simply turn around and walk back into my room with food in hand.

...

The sunlight just filtered through the curtains when I heard someone knocked on my door.

As I opened the door, I never expect a very tired looking Rodrik to barge into my room alone. His face in deep frown as he slammed the door shut and looks deeply toward my eyes.

"What have you done to Walder, squid?" said Rodrik sternly.

"Walder who?"

"Seven feet tall stable hand who, up to yesterday, only capable to say one word; 'Hodor'."

My face turned pale in shock, how could Rodrik knew about that? Did Hodor somehow see me or sensed my presence, so he told Rodrik about that?

"I... I'm not..."

"Listen squid, I suggest you to start explaining what are you doing yesterday." said Rodrik with frown upon his face.

Uh-oh, must have someone looking at my drain touch, even after all the precautions I took, but maybe, just maybe... confession of lesser crime we have done earlier...

"I am sorry Ser Rodrik; the one who put a nailed plank inside the bale of hay Hodor usually sit upon two days ago was indeed me. We just want to have some laugh pranking the idiot; we thought he won't tell anyone."

"Wait we? Oh damn you juvenile boys..." said Rodrik while messaging his temple. "Can't you see that making fun of Walder's condition is not the right thing to do? I'm reporting this to Lord Stark for... wait a moment that was not why I talk to you at the first place!"

"But everyone likes to pull pranks at Hodor's expense Ser!" I retorted, better made Rodrik think this is the result of a prank going wrong. After all, seeing Hodor run around in circle screaming 'HODOR! HODOR! HODOR!' was practically pastime for not only us, boys, but also apparently some younger guardsmen as well, who relish on bullying the dimwit as he usually too meek and scared to fight back.

"I already know Walder's unfortunate condition end up making every immature brats eager to pick upon him, including some of my own men! But that was not what I meant... Something that could only be done by magic at the first place!"

Alright, so basically Rodrik already had a clue on whatever I do, must involve magic, must try to make it sound benign enough to not warrant anything serious, so...

"I admit I also froze his ass off sometimes!"

"Wait, you used Ice Magic on Hodor?"

"Only on his ass or on his neck when he's sleeping, considering what the others have done with torching Hodor's pants and dumping trash upon his face, that was not as cruel as what others have done."

Rodrik placed his hand on his face and loudly sighed.

"That was the most stupid method to break a skinchanger's curse by such juvenile bullying."

"Curse? Skinchanger?" I gulped as I have heard Maester Luwin explaining something about them, skinchangers. A skinchanger is a magic user with the skill to enter the mind of an animal and control its actions. Thought only to exist in legends and ancient history, but with magic visibly returning, there may be more of them, but to think about it that Hodor turned out to be one at the first place.

"Walder confess being a skinchanger, and he saw something that could only be an allusion of a Kraken, and you are the only Kraken in this castle." said Rodrik while still pinching the bridge of his nose.

"What did Hodor said? He did not see me doing anything weird to him right? I only froze his ass with magic, that's it!" I tried my best impression of Kraken-spawn eyes.

"If the reason Walder's mind was restored because a juvenile sorcerer froze his ass... By the Gods, if not because of the gravity of this situation, I would laugh my ass off already."

"What did he said that made you suspect me at the first place?"

"Change your clothes; you need to be confronted with Walder right now at the Dungeon."

...

I look down as Rodrik led me deep into the dungeon of Winterfell, completely unsure of what the hell I should do right now. Skinchanger's curse? What happened to Hodor back then anyway?

What a mess I have put myself into, as I afraid, if I simply admit having Drain Touch skill, which is a lich skill at the first place...

As we entered the cell where Hodor is being held, I could see a very tired looking Maester Luwin sitting on a stool in front of the cell door, with four guards standing at his sides.

"Witness." said Rodrik while pointing towards me. "Guards dismissed, wait for me in front of the entrance door."

The guards gave Rodrik a salute and walked out toward the entrance.

I could see Hodor looks toward me in confusion behind the bars, instead of the usual dimwit expression, I could see his face visibly shown regret about something, but I just can't be sure."

"Alright Walder, what do you see?" questioned Maester Luwin, not bothering to go with an introduction or anything, as Rodrik opened the cell door, and we entered his cell.

"The boy who usually pick on me together with the other two boys." said Hodor in confusion. "But why Maester?

"You have been very cooperative this far, and we did feel you genuinely regret your actions, so we trust you to keep this a secret. But first swear that you will not speak anything about it except to us and Lord Stark. We knew that you may still be in shock about the sudden break of your curse, but as you should already know, you cannot afford your lips to be loose."

Hodor then swear that he would keep whatever who will brought in front of him as a secret.

"Good then, see the boy?" questioned Rodrik.

"Yes." answered Hodor.

"Is his description match what you have described before?"

"No, he is just a boy."

"This boy is a magic user, just the same with you, but with different kind of magic instead of being a skinchanger."

"I can't see anything different. I recall this boy is one of the three boys who usually tormented me together with the two that tormented me earlier, but those are just boys..."

"Then why are you saying you see a tall, twisted thing with ten long arms?" said Rodrik while frowning. "This does not make sense."

"Wait..." said Maester Luwin softly. "Maybe all he need is to demonstrate his magic."

"..." Hodor seems to still confuse about something.

"Theon, you could start by freezing this jar of water." said Maester Luwin while putting the small pottery jar half filled with water in my hands. "Do it."

I am just as confused as Hodor right now, but I decide that maybe obeying the order is the best action, so...

"Freeze."

While the result is not spectacular, just the water inside the jar being frozen solid, I could see Hodor panicked as he frantically crawls his way toward the furthest corner of his cell.

"That... that's the tall, twisted, green-eyed thing I have seen!" said Hodor in panic.

"Care to tell us the description again?" questioned Rodrik.

"I see a tall and twisted thing, with glowing green eyes and ten long arms, the very same thing that break the curse of dying skinchanger placed upon me when Ser Arthur Dayne kills the horse I was skinchanging into while Prince Rhaegar dragged lady Lya..." Hodor tried to explain something further but Rodrik placed his hand upon Hodor's mouth to tell him he should not say anything further.

"Ser Arthur what?" I asked Rodrik and Maester Luwin, Hodor appears to be wanted to answer, but Rodrik placed his finger on his lip to sign him silence.

"I am sorry Theon of House Greyjoy, but if anyone wants you to know about that at the first place, which would be the rights of Lord Stark." said Maester Luwin with a soft smile.

"Grey... Greyjoy? What I have seen is a... Kra... Kraken?" said Hodor meekly.

"Yes, a spot on description of a Kraken, mind you." said Maester Luwin. "And do you recall ever seeing another creature somewhere in this castle too back when you were still cursed? A direwolf, perhaps?"

"Yes, I recall seen a big black direwolf with glowing red eyes sitting on the balcony at night, every night." said Hodor softly.

Rodrik shook his head and Maester Luwin smiled.

"Just as I predicted, exactly as described in history, magic-users from Great Houses will often manifest their powers, and thus could be sensed by magical seers, in this case, you are a Greenseer in addition to a Skinchanger." said Maester Luwin while scribbling some notes on his parchment under the lantern he carries for this purpose.

"While we're at it, why not we ask if you have seen something other than red-eyed black direwolf and a green-eyed kraken here? Maybe another skinchanger?" questioned Rodrik.

"Those two creatures are the most clear in my memory." said Hodor. "But I do have seen another direwolves, smaller than the big one with glowing red eyes; one is smoke grey with glowing blue eyes, another is white with glowing violet eyes, those two are sometimes seen together with the Kraken."

Rodrik and Maester Luwin exchanged glances in alarm, and I immediately know why. Two direwolves with a Kraken? That obviously sounds like Robb and Jon, so...

"Robb and Jon are potential magic users too?" questioned Rodrik.

"Violet eyes?" questioned Maester Luwin.

"Harrenhal." said Rodrik while rolling his eyes. "Worst kept secret in Winterfell but Lord Eddard will never outright admit it."

"Harrenhal?" I questioned Rodrik about the unusual way the eye color of Jon Snow is described, his eyes seems to be black, but violet? "Jon's eyes are black, I think?"

"That's not yours to question squid ward." said Rodrik dismissively while Maester Luwin seems to already catch on about what Rodrik said. "You can't tell Jon or Robb anything about it, because Lord Stark wanted to tell Jon Snow himself when he was deemed ready."

"This is about Jon Snow's mother, right? Who is she?" that only picked my curiosity further, honestly.

"What I could tell you are she was a great beauty with haunting violet eyes, and she already passed away." whispered Rodrik. "And you will swear to never open this secret to the other children. Should've sent you away first, but whatever already said cannot be retracted, right?"

I thus swear that I would not open this secret to Jon, Robb and other children. Lord Stark seems to be a man who thought he could keep so many secret, but apparently the entire secret he tries to keep was really obvious, I can't imagine how dense Lord Stark is, first his secret sistercon fantasy, and now Jon Snow's mother? What else then?

"Anyway, Walder would stay at the dungeon until Lord Stark hears his case first, then as he has said, he may take the Black if Lord Eddard permit him to, as much as his involvement in kidnapping of Lady Lyanna warrant him to take the Black, he was forced by Lord Benjen at the first place, and his greenseer ability might be useful to locate other potential magic users nearby." said Rodrik to Maester Luwin.

"Aye, but the fact that the young lords are potential magic users themselves." said Maester Luwin.

"And you squid, you will report to us, or Lord Stark, if either Robb or Jon end up manifesting their magical powers. One Explosion per day is enough headache as it is." said Rodrik while messaging his temple. "I never wish to question the Old Gods about it, but why saddling us with juvenile sorcerers instead of waiting until they were older at the first place?"

"Anyway Walder, how old are you when you first realize you were..." questioned Maester Luwin.

"I must say I forgot exactly when, Maester, but what I recall is I was just a boy when I dream I could fly. A three eyed crow visit me and ordered me to leap from the tall cliff in my village." said Hodor softly.

"Three eyed... crow? Mutant freak? How old are..." I realize that the mutant freak of a crow was apparently responsible for the creation of magic users before Aqua was sent here.

"Hodor is already thirty namedays old, according to Old Nan." said Rodrik softly.

"And that means the magic never really extinct at the first place, just being diminished as he is now the oldest confirmed magic user." said Maester Luwin. "Even as his magic not being as flashy as the other three."

"Anyway, you all dismissed." said Rodrik sternly. "And remember to report anything that happened with Robb and Jon."

...

"You're late for breakfast." said Robb while Jon and Megumin still munching on the meat.

"I was bored and decide to walk around." I retorted while looking toward Jon's eyes.

And yes, that's the confirmation, under careful observation, Jon's eyes really has a slight violet glint under the sunlight.

"Why are you looking at Jon like that?" questioned Megumin as she glares at me looking at her brother's eyes.

"Just curious, yesterday I put a caterpillar on his scalp when he was tired, you didn't exactly take a bath before you go to sleep right?" I tried to redirect Megumin's question, and Jon Snow's reaction is predictable standing up and shaking his head frantically, while Robb and Megumin laugh their ass off.

"Where! Where is that caterpillar?!" said Jon frantically.

"Maybe you already eat it back when you're still asleep? It crawls into your mouth." said Robb while Jon keeps frantically pulling his hair.

Long story short, Jon ends up running to the bathroom to wash his hair, and later reappears with wet hair and new set of clothes.

"If I get the itch or rash, you will pay sevenfold for this, squid!" threatened Jon ash he shook my shoulders.

"Calm down, that was the last caterpillar, and we run out of valid prank targets." I said smugly while remembering all the screaming maidservants from yesterday.

"Anyway, no lesson for today..." said Robb. "What should we do now?"

...

And this is why I was really afraid of Robb and Jon asking for some stupid magical powers to the Gods, as they practically drag me to the Godswoods. Sure, I was supposed to have a date with Megumin there, but they keep drag me along, and using drain touch like yesterday has been proven as extremely bad idea, somehow.

I wish Rodrik gave me more clear order whether to tell Robb and Jon about their potential magical powers, or left them alone and let things develop naturally.

Of course, with Robb either want to walk the path of explosion, or somehow also want to have ability to summon killer flying cabbages. Their other magical wish-list that is to be able to use steal skill seems downright normal.

Much to my relief, however, we just end up basically play at the Godswoods like normal children. Nope, no God manifestations here, and even as Robb and Jon prayed their heart's content to the Weirwood Heart Tree, nothing seems to happen, so far.

It was almost midday, when the boys started to get hungry again and tried to leave the Godswoods for the Dining Hall.

"Ah, that's it; we should just play somewhere else, nothing to see here." I said smugly when suddenly.

The Weirwood Tree glows in front of us.

"Oh fu..." I knew it, I should never relax around Gods, as apparently they were having the knack to bother us mortals at the most awkward time possible, or did they actually heard Robb and Jon's prayers?

"The Weirwood is alive!" said Robb and Jon in unison as they immediately prostrate themselves in front of the Weirwood.

I was unfazed with that, and Megumin is actually frightened as she hides behind my back, so much for all her chuuni bullshit using the Old Gods' name and now the big guy wanted to have a chat with us.

"Well Starks, I have heard your prayers." said the Weirwood Tree. "And little Destroyer, stop hiding behind Hiki-NEET's back!"

"Hiki-NEET?" questioned Robb, and I could only wince that now Aqua's favorite nickname for me will become known wide at Winterfell as well.

"Where is Aqua? I meant, the Drowned Goddess?" I asked the Weirwood Tree as Megumin slowly poke her head out of my back.

"My niece is currently busy dealing with the Ironborn, Axis Order business and sorting out her late father's leftovers, she said."

Oh crap, the Old God of the Green just said things without even censoring in front of Robb and Jon. But thankfully, he did mention that Aqua's father are dead instead of being exiled to Tartarus, so maybe I could spin this off somehow.

"Aano... ano..." stuttered Megumin while she seems like she wanted to cry. I could sense that she is really afraid of all her chuuni lies suddenly being brought down brutally by the real Old God, who apparently never spoke to her at the first place.

"Anyway, stop looking like that little Destroyer!" said the Weirwood tree while looking at how Megumin practically shook herself from fear. "Don't be all talk and then frightened like a little girl in front of... wait, you are a little girl right now, oh sorry, I forgot, side effects of looking all possible times from one point of time every time I see through a Weirwood Tree."

"You... you are not angry over..." said Megumin while almost cried.

"That is never a problem at the first place anyway, but please consult with me properly next time." said the Weirwood tree while having a Weirwood branch ruffling Megumin's head. "How can I am angry to someone who actually managed the Northern Lords to start restoring the Wall to their full strength? The Second Long Night will definitely happen, but thanks to you, mankind will have more chance to withstand the horror."

"You see the future me?" cried Megumin all too happily, forgetting her previous frightened disposition. "Will I have big... mmmfff mmmfff mmmfff?"

The Weirwood Tree understandably cover Megumin's mouth with his branches, Robb and Jon are real children, so...

"Shut up and do not say any materials that exceed your current physical age! Think of the other children!" said the Weirwood Tree in panic.

"Big what?" questioned Jon.

"Other children?" questioned Robb.

"Those two have seen the Abyss, they are no longer having the mind of normal children, or so to speak." said the Weirwood Tree.

"But Arya said about having a big..." said Robb.

"Big... I'll give her a big staff for her to cast her explosion magic with! Down on the lowest level of the Winterfell crypt, there should be one lying around ready to be claimed, half-broken Weirwood Staff used by Theon Stark to break the anti-magical shield of the Seven-Faced Demons when he invaded Andalos, it won't be in a good condition, but this Hiki-NEET should have enough skill to repair that staff at the first place. You have my permission to cut a big branch of a Weirwood Tree that should grow near the small holdfast that usually used for execution that should provide you with enough materials to repair the staff at the first place."

"Really?!" chirped Megumin happily as the Weirwood Tree seems to be glad to dodge something, that is utterly unsuitable to children's ears. Damn you Megumin, you just gave me a task while you get something for free.

"You're not angry with her?" I asked the Old God of the Greens while pointing towards Megumin. "I meant she..."

"Don't worry; I'm not angry because of what my moron of a niece brought you and your companions into this world. You are far better than the alternatives."

"Alternatives what?" I said as I wonder about the Old God's words.

"I have seen the other alternatives without my niece being present, anyway, that's for another day as it would be far too brutal to be seen by children. Today I just want to announce that you two are freed from the limitations." said the Weirwod Tree with another wink. "You have no need to cast your explosion magic every day from now on, and same with the Hiki-NEET here, someone already paid the price to lift the restriction of Magic by retrieving the divine potions."

"Who? Hey, don't say that..." I just remembered what Lord Stark said about the mysterious Edmure Tully, Robb and Megumin's uncle who somehow end up roped into being the lackeys of the Gods.

"Sure, Edmure Tully has paid the price to free his niece here from her daily obligations, and this also extended to every magic user anyway."

"Uncle Edmure... died?" said Robb while his face turned pale.

"Nope, he is alive and if the healers worked their best, should've already put his body back to shape after spending a whole day fighting against odds and clearing the Drowned God... dess' undersea abode from the Deep Ones infestations." said the Weirwood tree while he conjured some kind of floating monitor in front of us.

I could see a young man with clean-shaven face and long auburn hair poking under his half broken helmet, lies on some dark surface made of some sort of oily black stone, holding his stump of a right arm with his left, and looking closer, his legs under the knee is missing. While at his side, I see uncle Victarion clutch his missing jaw with his right hand, as his left shoulder was ripped apart by something together with his entire left arm placed at the left side of his body, at least he only lost his right leg, somehow. There are uncle Aeron, who somehow dyed his hair blue, trying to attach his own severed hand, and a mysterious masked man who already start using healing magic upon the auburn haired man, trying to attach his legs. We could see monster carcasses that seem to be a cross of humanoid lizard and large serpents strewn across them, with some of them still holding massive cleavers or tridents at their hands.

While I and Megumin didn't feel anything, as this was literally just what usually happened to me (and to a point, Darkness) after particularly brutal mauling by monster, Robb and Jon looked ill as they retched their stomach content to the grass.

"Hey you previously said something is far too brutal for children to see! But now what have you shown to these two innocent boys?"

"Oops, forgive me..." said the Old God of The Green, who somehow waved his hand and showing us said Auburn haired guy, uncle Victarion, uncle Aeron, and a mysterious masked man with light leather armor climbing out of a rope ladder, hauling a big chest of something alongside some bloody bundles of cloth from the top. At least they clearly have their whole limbs now.

"What happened?"

"Don't worry, they already got better, the later part is after they finished their tasks given by us, Old Gods. There are two healers in their adventuring party, so chopped off limbs and otherwise mortal wounds are still reversible, as long as they didn't lose their lives first, as we cannot cast resurrection spell while being sealed beyond the Wall.

I could only mentally chant 'Gomenasai gomenasai gomenasai gomenasai gomenasai gomenasai...' as I seen how badly the four men party got mauled by whatever those Deep Ones are, thankfully, unlike many adventuring parties in Eris' realm, they seem to have two healers present at their team, maybe that's also why they've managed to survive such gruesome wounds at the first place.

"Anyway, little Destroyer, don't make their sacrifices goes in vain. While you may still practice your explosions, you could go without doing daily explosions from now on." said the Weirwood tree while Megumin could only wince. "Hey, they have the Drowned Goddess' protection, and she guarantees they will come here in whole, sooner or later."

"What?" I asked the Old God of the Green. "They will come here?"

"In four months, give or take, cannot predict the exact time, but they will carry a Holy Icon that could be used to grant magical powers to people we deem worthy enough to accept the gift."

"Really? You will give us magical powers?" said Robb and Jon in unison, already forgotten about their upset stomach due to sheer brutality of the scene conjured earlier.

"Yes." said the Weirwood Tree. "But you need to prove yourselves worthy, Stark. Please make sure the party of our Heralds would be received well here."

"What about my big staff?" said Megumin while looking toward the Weirwood Tree.

"You could take it at your leisure... Just be careful, the Crypt of Winterfell did have ghosts. Ghosts who refuse to leave this world because they literally still have attachments here."

"Wait, we don't have anyone who could use turn undead or..." I said the obvious.

"Just ensure that an adult Stark present, the Ghosts are Starks themselves, they will not harm their descendants."

"But that means waiting for father back at home first!" whined Megumin.

"Exactly." said the Weirwood Tree. "You children will simply unable to proceed without a presence of an adult Stark, you all could always wait until you are fifteen and deemed as a full adult though."

"That's nine years from now." said Robb while Jon could only nods in confirmation.

"Not you bastard, you are a... oh wait, I meant an adult, legitimate Stark."

Even the Gods here love to bully a poor bastard; I think that as I pat Jon Snow's back to cheer him up as he started tearing up.

"Good... No need to hurry with this though." said the Weirwood Tree. "Now it's time to wake up children..."

We found ourselves still lying on the grass, with Maester Luwin looking worried toward us.

"What happened? Why are you four...?"

"The Old God inside the Heart Tree has spoken with us!" said Robb with a smile as he lifted himself up from the puddle that must be his stomach content earlier.

"Why are you thrown up?"

"Oh, the Old God just shown us about Uncle Edmure, he was apparently in a fight with some monsters and lost his limbs, but he gets better as the Gods literally gave some in his group powers to heal themselves." said Robb further while Jon throw up some more.

"Ed... Edmure Tully?" said Maester Luwin with confusion before remembering something. "Where... wait, don't tell anything here, you should change your clothes and go to the library first, where we could discuss what you have seen."

"But he's..." said Robb, but I signed him to stay silent. "Oh..."

...


	20. PART 20 : EDMURE

**PART 20 : EDMURE TULLY**

 **Pyke, 289 AC**

Dinner turned out to be mostly eventless affair, save that Balon Greyjoy's daughter, that I forgot her name, complained on how Aeron refused to let her ride the Kraken, and Euron Greyjoy enter the dining hall late, muttering something about roasted crow while walking in a funny way.

Afterward, Aeron calls us to his chamber to discuss something about tomorrow's arrangement. Apparently, the Drowned Goddess herself wanted to give the good first impression, and what would be better than holding a small, public event where the main purposes are both spread the good words, and handing out free magical healing services.

"So, the two of you will open a stall in front of the Gate? Not just working inside this castle?" I questioned Aeron, who is currently filling on the details with Marwyn, as both of them looking on a parchment filled with the drafted plan.

"Aye, Balon agreed to help with providing guards and servants, and the idea to open a large open air stall on the open field was Drowned Goddess' own idea to gather more believers." said Aeron while drawing something about the supposed location of the event. "The Drowned Goddess herself is currently speaking with the Drowned Men about opening the priesthood to any gender."

Oh well, that's a neat idea, after all, the Seven-Faced Demons has both Septon and Septas.

"So basically lord Aeron would be the speaker and attend to nobles, while this humble man would attend the smallfolk." said Marwyn while pointing the general plan of tomorrow. And since lord Victarion Greyjoy agreed to manage the guards at the first place."

"What is my task then?"

"Honestly, nothing..." said Aeron with a smile. "You could simply spend the whole day resting here, you are free to go to the training ground if you like, or maybe just looking around?"

"Oh, that's it? I could spend my time lazing around in your brother's castle until you finished your work?"

"That's basically that fish." said Aeron. "Not like there will be something else to be expected."

"Anyway, why Euron is talking to me about dream of flying and being visited by a three eyed crow?" I said the question before noting Aeron's face suddenly turned pale. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Euron told you what?"

"That he lost his eye when the crow orders him to leap or something. And I told him about how I fly after the Drowned Goddess slapped me in my dream."

"..." Aeron could only look blankly toward me.

"Am I saying something wrong or what?"

"That's not our business, really..." said Aeron as suddenly as he returned to his previous work on the parchment.

"Oh? Am I bothering you now?"

"Nor really but..." Aeron apparently tried to say something, but it seems that he decided against it at the last moment. Maybe I should not bother him anymore this night, so...

"Do you mind if I go to sleep first? I just want to finally get some fucking sleep after a week sleeping on Kraken-back. I may end waking up rather late so..."

"Well yes, you may, I'll tell the servants to not disturb you tomorrow morning then." said Aeron while I walked out from his chamber and towards mine.

...

As predicted, I wake up when the sun is already high in the air. As I passed his room, Marwyn is already not here, and servants do confirmed about the public event held just in front of the castle.

This day is going to be a boring one; maybe hitting the training ground could elevate my boredom, so...

"Going somewhere, Ser Edmure?" said the one eyed Euron Greyjoy, who as I took better look at him, is now sporting a clean-shaven appearance as his previous short beard is nowhere to be seen.

"Looking for food. You shave your beard?"

"Shaving accident yesterday." said Euron nonchalantly. "Trimmed my beard too short so that it would be better to just shave them entirely, not that I am attached to my facial hair at the first place."

"You plan to hit the training grounds?" I asked looking if he wanted to have some friendly spar or so with me.

"Nope, I have a task to do with ledgers today." said Euron with a smile. "Balon and Victarion attend the gathering in front of the castle, and I needed to finish my duty first, my free time is after lunch, if I could finish re-checking on what our accountants here calculated about."

"Ah, that makes sense."

"We would normally offer wine and women to our esteemed guest, but as you are not inclined to have them." tempted Euron as he bows with a sly smile.

"And my answer would be the obvious 'no thank you', for your offers." I replied with a smile. Oh well, I failed to see anything wrong with this polite, well-mannered man, even as if he sometimes feels rather creepy, somehow.

"We hope you enjoy your stay here as our esteemed guest, ser." said Euron politely. "Sorry to disappoint you as I can't accompany you to the training ground this morning."

"Never mind about that." we exchanged bows before Euron went into the stairs, apparently his job is being some sort of accountant for Balon Greyjoy, and that explains why he apparently has the best manner of the Greyjoy brothers.

...

After spending some hours sightseeing, including taking a good look at the crowd in front of the castle over the wall (the crowd may be numbered in thousands or more), lunchtime comes.

As I walked into the dining hall, I could see only Balon Greyjoy's adolescent daughter, eating her meal silently at the table.

Deciding to not disturb her, as it would be awkward if the Greyjoys thought me to actually attracted to that short haired, pimple-faced, hook-nosed, ugly adolescent girl at the first place. She wears sleeveless leather jerkin over simple long sleeved white shirt, paired with knee-high riding breeches, so if not because she was being introduced as a girl, I would guess that she is a he at the first glance. And her table manner is quite bad for a noble girl even for her age, as even I could not get off with eating on formal dining table with one foot on top of the table and munching the meal that loudly. In short, everything about her basically screams 'bad wife material — do not disturb' to me, so I end up picking the furthest seat away from her, before servants brought me the food and ale.

It seems that she noticed about me, but it seems she also has something else to do as she immediately leaves the table after finished her meal without even acknowledging me further. Not that I mind, but back at Riverrun, that kind of behavior are basically total opposite of how a noblewoman should carry herself.

"Interested Ser Edmure?" whispered Euron Greyjoy behind my neck as he startled me with his sudden appearance. "You seem to stare my niece, so maybe if you want..."

Eh...

"I actually aghast at how bad her manner is." I just told him first thing I had in my mind to avoid further misunderstanding.

"Ah yes, Lady Allanys teaches Asha to be bold, but apparently all she got is how to become boyish in her actions." said Euron with a teasing smile. "She's already thirteen namedays old, and would need a good husband to teach her proper manners, so perhaps if you interested."

"I'm not here to talk about such premature matches and buying cat inside a bag, or so to speak, sorry for using this figure of speech." I said with a smile. "She needs room to grow first before we could judge her."

"So you prefer fully bloomed women?"

"Kind of like that to be honest."

"Anymore specifications?"

"Soft pretty face, long flowing hair, tall curvaceous body, big tits... Hey, I'm just jesting, I'm not asking you to bring me a woman like that!" oops, why did I suddenly said that, dammit, that ale was rather good.

"And I thought you were finally made up your mind..." said Euron in a good laugh together. "Although let's be fair, how old are you, really?"

"Me? I'm just a seventeen namedays old, still young, but only three namedays shy of King Robert back then when he toppled the Targaryen dynasty."

"You're that young? Must've explained why you still have that pretty face." said Euron with a genuine smile on his face.

"You don't seem that old anyway compared to your brothers, except Aeron of course. So, if I may inquire how old are you?"

"I must say that a year ago, you're only half my age." said Euron with a smile. "Not that meant anything; everyone does say that I have naturally younger looks compared to my age."

"You're already thirty-three? But you actually seem younger than your brother Victarion!"

"Victarion is six years my junior, mind you, but he spent his life working and fighting on the high seas."

"And yet, your eldest brother already has grey hair like..."

"An old man already? Balon is hard man making hard decisions." said Euron with a solemn face. "There are reasons why we rebelled at the first place, not very good reasons, I must admit, and in retrospect that was too hasty in our parts, but still..."

"Oh..." oh well, the discussion may end up turned into pretty heavy topic then, I hope that this guy is sensible enough to offer wine to go with this kind of talk.

"Balon is already past his forties anyway; my father had us separated by long years in between."

"And Aeron told me he's only twenty-three years old or so..."

"Yeah, he's the youngest between us, Balon's late eldest son is actually grown together with him, as they were almost of same age." said Euron with a sad face.

"I didn't mean to..." now we are in need of a wine to go with this topic, if only I paid more attentions to the lessons about diplomacy at the first place.

"No worry, that's never a problem at the first place, risk of fighting in war and such." said Euron with a painful grimace in his face, before shaking his head as if trying to forget the memories. "Anyway, we had choices between Arbor Gold and Dornish Red, which one is your preference?"

Oh well, about damn time, you do not speak about subjects that heavy without a proper drink dammit.

"Arbor Gold please." I smiled politely while Euron calls a servant to provide us with a bottle of Arbor Gold and two plain wine glasses. Said servant opened the cork with a loud pop, signing that the wine is indeed freshly opened and fills the room with its sweet aroma.

"What is dead may never die." said Euron while lifting his glass.

"But lives again, harder and stronger." I answered the reply as we sipped the Arbor Gold together.

We sit in silence for a moment, before Euron resumed the talk.

"So how's your family? I heard your sisters married well, one is the Lady at Winterfell, and the other married Lord Hand himself."

"Can't be sure about both of them, really." I said while sipping the Arbor Gold and savor the sweetness to mask the bitterness of our topic. "Catelyn initially being the one who content with her arrangement in Winterfell, but then having her daughter chosen by the Gods to be granted such magic of destruction... you already heard about my niece, yes?"

"Ah yes, news do travel fast about the existence of first openly known magic user in the world." said Euron with soft smile. "At such young age even... Winterfell having daily magical explosions is the talk of the Lords. Some admire the Stark's sheer fortune, but some... condemned it."

"Don't worry to talk about that, being former demon worshiper myself before the Drowned Goddess saved my life." I reassured him that talking about this topic is fine.

"Is that true your sister still clutching that damned Seven-Pointed Star? Even in the overwhelming proof about whose Gods is real now?"

"Last time I heard about her yes, she still clutched that damned lies and deception written by that Seven-Faced Demons. Can't blame her that way though, being practically raised by a Septon after our mother died."

"I must say that may be applicable to you as well..." said Euron while looking down to his own glass of wine. "Servants tasked to raise their Lord's children are often picked from the most honest and loyal of retainers, those who could be expected to serve until death, as they being often the old retainers of a household."

As Euron sip his wine slowly, I could only remember the Old Septon Osmynd, the one who indeed raised me and my sister. In many ways, Euron's words rang true for a reason, the Old Septon as I remembered is nothing but always honest and loyal to House Tully. Honest and loyal, never lies to us about anything...

Except about the Gods being real Gods and the Seven being actually Demons. But still...

I can't really answer Euron's honest statement, so I just shake my head before sipping the Arbor Gold. I missed the Drowned Goddess now, as I wonder on how I should answer the question. I just hope that, even being a Demonic priest aside, he would be well and healthy in Riverrun.

"Am I speaking something wrong?" said Euron with a concern on his face.

"No, it's nothing." I said with a smile as I tried to talk my way out of this damn uncomfortable situation, even with wine to smooth things out in our mind.

"I only wish your sister will eventually see the truth." said Euron with a slight chuckle. "Lord Stark has some work to do..."

"I hope so..."

"Anyway, you look uncomfortable speaking of that, now if you wish to do something else..." said Euron with concern in his face.

"No, it's nothing." oh well, it seems I didn't have anything else to talk, but.

"Let's not talk about a matter that obviously involves the will of the Gods for those are not something that we may really understand at the first place." said Euron as he sips his wine. "The matter of our ill-fated rebellion is mostly the same, an uncomfortable, confusing situation..."

"I could understand that..."

"So how's your other sister then? The one who married to Lord Hand Arryn?"

"Lysa married that old coot out of duty, even Cat having her own happy days before the magic comes, and she should be happier if she could just cast out that damned Seven-Pointed Star into a cesspit, but Lysa's life is none other than misery after misery, as her marriage was a very bad match in retrospect." ironically I found myself more comfortable talking about Lysa's misery compared to Cat's, perhaps that's because the former is not really her own fault, but Cat's own misery is because she clutched that damn Seven-Pointed Star too hard.

"You can't just say the Lord Hand... old coot... you know?" said Euron while raising his eyebrows.

"Why can't I? A man twenty years senior of my father marrying and bedding my then fourteen years old sister? I understood the concept of marriage alliance, but considering House Tully and House Arryn should already having mutual alliances with House Stark at the first place, why sacrificing my sister's happiness?"

"The Game of Thrones..." said Euron softly as he sipped his wine again. "Not that you should blame your father at the first place. Mismatched age aside, marrying someone who assured to have high place in the new Baratheon dynasty is a sure way to gain influences at the court."

"What influences? It's all for nothing but misery after misery." I spat my words that felt bitter in my throat. "Father's treatment of Lysa caused her to hate him, and any hope of Tully influence at the court ends with that. Everything ended badly for chasing something that is too vague at the first place."

"But let's be fair here, I'm sure that it was your sister's sacrifice and influence, who ultimately saved you from being literally chased by the Faith of the Seven."

"What?"

"Even as she did not serve your father's interests in the court, she still thinks of your own interest." said Euron while smiling and pointing towards me. "This is just my educated guess, however."

"How so?"

"The news that High Septon already branded you as an Apostate already spread wide across the realm."

"Ah yes, I wonder why you heard..."

"Your reputation already flies far ahead of you, especially with the almost rebellion that happened on Riverlands." said Euron with a chuckle. "Now, if things happened some months before, that would be interesting, but Gods may have their own design upon us."

"That's because everyone just presuming everything about me. The Faith of The Seven did have tenets against magic users, and even Old Septon thought that the first Holy Icon of the Drowned Goddess was demonic thing or something that he performed the exorcism ritual."

"First?"

"The Holy Icon Aeron carried here is actually the second. The first was burned under demonic powers of Seven-Faced Demons, as that happened during my escape from my home." a bitter smile graced my lips. "I blame everything that happened to poor Old Septon Osmynd to that damned Seven-Faced Demons, for I have seen their true visage in my very home."

"You faced the Greater Demon King and managed to escape?" said Euron while raising his glass. "If that's not a genuine miracle and protection from the Drowned Goddess, I can't say anything else."

Euron sips half of his wine, and I followed suit.

"Now, let's get back to more worldly concerns about politics." said Euron with solemn smile. "The Iron Throne guarantees your inheritance as lawful heir of Riverrun, even against the urging of the High Septon and the Most Devout. A very major concession, I must speak."

"True... Maybe that's just my luck, or genuine protection put on me by the Drowned Goddess and the Old Gods." I said with a sad smile.

"I would rather offer a more mundane interpretation on this." said Euron while his face turned serious. "The Lord Hand Arryn is the one who dealt directly with the Faith, and he is the one who pushed for peace by guaranteeing your freedom of worship. That's why you should never call him 'an old coot' anymore, as you do owe him that one."

Oh well, that's maybe the reason why Euron told me to respect that old coot, I never heard of this and just thought maybe King Robert is the one who guaranteeing my inheritance due to his notorious 'lip-service only' relations with the Faith.

"But I thought that was King Robert's..."

"Maybe that too, but as I already said, you cannot downplay your sister's involvement in this. If I were you, I would thank her from my deepest heart over her sacrifice as soon as I could meet her." said Euron softly. "Not that I suggest you to run into King's Landing and forgot the task given unto you by the Drowned Goddess, but you know what I meant."

"Do you meant, my sister..." now, that's interesting take on my fortune. Sure, the royal guarantee was rather nice, but unexpected, but if there's really mundane reason as Euron said.

"I am sorry if this may offend you, but you know... typical dirty old man's weakness?" said Euron with an apologetic smile.

"What?" I said as Euron leaned upon me and whispered directly into my ear.

"What I must say is your sister must be the one who plead for guarantee to your inheritance. Dirty old men could be controlled with a cunt, after all." said Euron in entirely serious tone.

"What did you just say about my sis..." my reflex is of course anger, but then I do realize the subtle play behind the game.

...

"Just plainly stating out facts, a harsh fact that your father's plan to gain influence upon the Royal Court actually worked... but it worked in your favor instead of directly serving him." said Euron with solemn face. "Behind all her misery and sacrifice, your sister must be the mundane reason over the Royal Guarantee. We all know that Lord Hand Jon Arryn is the one who really ruled the realm while King Robert... you know..."

"But what you want to say is my sister is actually the one who rule Jon Arryn, am I correct?" I sipped my glass of wine until the last drop. Well, this is a big revelation for me, personally, and this means I do owe Lysa a very big favor.

"Aye." said Euron softly as he also downed his glass of wine, before pouring anew for us two.

Silence is among us for a quite long time, as I could only look deeply into the irony that what I deemed as a useless match turned out to be what saved my hide at the first place.

"I honestly never deduce this at the first place." I said softly while sipping the wine in my glass. "Thank you for pointing what should be obvious."

"Indeed." said Euron softly. "And I infer that this sister of yours is not as religious as the other one, right?"

"Correct."

"Maybe this is enough for today..." said Euron with a genuine smile on his face. "You are the luckiest man I've ever known."

"Well, thank you..."

"It seems that my brother's work to spread the words of the Drowned Goddess is still going on, but the ledgers calls me for my attention, or Balon would have my hide." said Euron while standing up from his seat, and I just realized that the sun is once again already leaning deep on the west.

"I think I would go and have a look for Aeron's... why aren't you asking for him to heal your missing eye anyway?"

"Oh this?" said Euron with a smile. "My left eye isn't truly missing, and I would admit that the accident that caused this has something to do with magic. That's why I asked you if the Crow also visit you, but it seems that things are entirely different here."

Euron then opened his eye patch, and what I could see inside is a black eye, completely black and shiny. I must admit that this does seem very unnerving, but then, my own magic is unnerving to the followers of the Seven-Faced Demon as well, so...

"This eye is blind however, and people found it unnerving." said Euron with a rather shy smile as he closed his eye patch. "Not that it caused me too much discomfort after more than twenty-seven years living as one eyed man."

"Well, I think I must look for Aeron and Marwyn then." I said as Euron politely bow and walk into the stairway.

...

The crowd is positively huge, and when everything ended at sunset, Aeron are exhausted, but honest, fulfilling smile graced his faces.

"How many people you two healed in total?" I said as I am genuinely curious about the result.

"Not that much actually, I healed about twenty-six or so nobles and captains who either placed their anchor on Lordsport or visited Ironholt, and three smallfolks that were too weak to be sent away after Marwyn falls unconscious. Mostly dealing with festered scars, cuts, and broken bones gained at the last war. Never thought that regenerating fingers is actually harder than healing a festered wound." said Aeron with a smile. "While this Masked Maester really outdone himself."

Aeron point out to Marwyn, which already fall asleep with his face being deathly pale and only the movement of his chest signing that he is still alive.

"I think this was supposed to be healing, not make-yourself-sick or something?" I said while raising my eyebrows.

"It seems that he tried to reach the limit of the healing magic, and literally worked himself into exhaustion. He freaking reattached an entire arm of a poor man whose hand being torn off by mining accident yesterday, lifting some cancerous cell from an old woman, and basically doing harder work than what I thought possible."

"He worked on that hard assignment? Why aren't..."

"On the other hand, basically everyone on this island worshiped the Drowned Goddess right now, just as the Wise Goddess herself predicted." said Aeron with a grin on his face. "To think that this Maester healed fifty-seven smallfolks with such dedication that after he heals his latest patient, he falls into unconsciousness. Forcing Victarion to partially command the crowd of smallfolks to their home as the healer already exhausted his magic."

"Work himself until exhaustion..." I looked at the Masked Maester with amazement.

"His devotion to the Gods is indeed commendable." said Aeron solemnly.

"You planned to do this again tomorrow?" I point out the obvious.

"Maybe would be limited to nobles and such, and I would hold that in the Great Hall instead, the speech purpose of this was already done today."

"Now, if only the Drowned Goddess grants all her priests with healing magic."

Aeron sighed deeply. "That was the plan to not only reform the Drowned Men priesthoods, but also helping the Maesters who sided with us, but that would be on hold until the Gods could be freed from their prisons beyond the Wall, as in today, only for select few like us would be granted magic at the first place."

"Uh... yeah..." I said while looking to the horizon, as the night is almost come.

"That's why we need to find Darkness..." said Aeron solemnly. "But while we're at it, lifting the price of magic may also have something."

"Well, that's primarily my own request for my niece's sake."

"As the Drowned Goddess said to just say what you want to say, we will still accompany you, as we want to see the mermaids." said Aeron while sporting a wicked grin. "Victarion agreed to lent us his ship and crews for the duration of our journey in the Iron Islands."

"Oh?"

"Just let us finish the job on Pyke first, and then you could have the curse on your Stark niece be lifted."

"Thanks."


End file.
